Prom Queen
by AllUNeedIsFaith
Summary: FINISHEDA new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he’s bound to rock the relationships. So who’s going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of Ryan
1. Mr Blue Eyes

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.

Chapter 1: Mr. Blue Eyes

Summer and Seth were arguing about whether or not Seth would look better with a cleft in his chin. Summer argued that it would make him look smart, older and wiser. Seth retaliated that Michael Jackson also thought that and look where he was. All of a sudden Summer stopped in mid-rant and stood up.

"What? What? Did I say something?" Seth asked. Summer silenced him with an annoyed,

"Shhh! My senses are tingling."

"Uh Summer, that's meant to be a bad thing." Summer looked around and Seth stood up and attempted to follow her gaze. In the end he settled on looking at her strangely. She seemed to 'sniff' the air and then looked around and saw what she was searching for.

"There." She hissed to Seth and hit him in the chest, she acted as if she'd spotted an endangered bird.

"What?" Seth asked in an exaggerated whisper.

"Fresh meat at 3 o'clock." Seth's face contorted into confusion and then he shook his head. Poor guy, he thought. Whoever he was, because unlike what Summer seemed to think she wasn't looking in the direction of '3 o'clock'.

Summer looked at his confused face and rolled her eyes in frustration. She grabbed his face and turned it to her interpretation of 3 o'clock. Standing there was a tanned guy laughing with a girl. Tina or something. The guy had electric blue eyes and blonde hair that went halfway down his eyes and (at the back) halfway down his neck.

To Summer everything seemed to go in slow motion as he was laughing at some lame joke and then he spotted her. He stopped laughing and stopped smiling but his eyes showed his intense interest. Intense blue and intense interest are a very good (and very cute) combination.

As their eyes connected Summer felt as if she'd been taken away to a different place. An exotic down to earth place, Australia maybe. Sitting in the sun, soaking it up and feeling that warm feeling that she got here when she tanned. Maybe Bondi. The Gold Coast was so overrated.

She snapped out of it when Seth asked,

"What is it Summer?" She turned to him but couldn't speak. She decided just to turn back to Mr. Electric Blue Eyes. She saw that he'd gotten rid of the other girl and was now walking towards her. She found that she couldn't turn away, she was captured by his eyes. They were so cool, friendly, nice, protective and...sexy.

As they kept their eye contact he managed to bump into a few people on the way to where Summer was standing. Summer giggled and Mr. Blue Eyes smiled at her brightly. He dodged another student and finally made it to where Summer was standing he just stood there. The sexual tension was unbelievably strong and Summer could feel it like a heat wave.

They were about a metre away from each other and both of them wanted to close it. Summer could see the want in his eyes and she knew that the same thing was reflected in hers. She could see that the hesitation was over and that he was making his move when...

"Hi I'm Seth Cohen." Seth cut in with an out held hand. Mr. Blue Eyes and Summer kept eye contact a second longer before he broke away to move his eyes to Seth's face and he shook his hand.

"Hi, I'm Tom. Tom Chase. I'm new here." They both let go and Seth looked at him,

"Yeah, haven't seen you around before. I guess that's the reason." Tom smiled at him, unsurely. Seth smiled back and then reached behind him to grab hold of Summer's arm and drag her next to him.

"This my _girlfriend_. Summer." He stressed the word girlfriend but seemed to add her name on as only an after thought. Summer held out her hand and Tom held it to his lips. Summer giggled again. There was something about Tom that made her relax. And it wasn't just his eyes. It was also his laid back attitude and his other gorgeous looks. Everything about him just put her completely at ease.

It was, on the other hand, a completely different experience for Seth. He thought that Tom was reasonably okay, or he would've if he wasn't hitting on _his_ girlfriend. Jealousy was not Seth's best trait.

"So where are you from Tom, Tom Chase?" Summer asked in a bemused tone.

"Well, I'm from Australia. Bondi in Sydney to be exact."

"Bondi Beach?" Summer asked, slightly surprised that she was thinking of Bondi when she first saw him.

"Yeah, you know of it?" Summer nodded,

"I want to go there. I've heard that it's a good place to get a tan."

"Yeah, it is. I mean, it's crowded but it's a good place to get a tan. Even though I reckon you've got a good tan already." Tom grinned at her and Summer smiled back. She was about to say something but Seth decided to cut in on the little grinning fest.

"So are you this Aussie surfie guy?" Tom moved his eyes to Seth but kept the grin on his face,

"Yeah."

"Hey that's great man. I can take you to the beach and we can try out the Californian waves. See if they're gnarly enough for you." Tom kept his grin but the underlying threat that was so obvious in Seth's voice made his forehead crease with a mixture of worry/concern/imagination of what was to come. Seth's own face showed no sign as he just had his normal smile on his face.

(Jealous and Seth are almost contradictions. Except for when it comes to Summer. In the next chapter Tom and Summer get some quality time together and he explains a bit and reflects back on the 'surfing session' he and Seth had.)


	2. Paris

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.

Chapter 2: Paris

Summer was sitting at a table with Marissa. They were talking about how boring History was and how a new person would spice it up. Summer was thinking of Tom and Marissa was thinking of any random guy that would get her mind off Ryan. And there, as if Summer wishing it had made it happen, was Tom. He walked up to Summer behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.

Summer leapt up and turned around, she was getting ready to tell Seth off because he knew not to tap her when she was unaware. She was extremely jumpy sometimes. As she was she whirled around with a lollipop in a stabbing position, ready to stab him. Tom looked down at the lollipop and then up(his eyes didn't travel far) to her face, back down to the lollipop and up to her face.

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" He started staring at the lollipop which Summer eventually lowered and then returned his gaze back to her face.

"Uh, no. Of course not." She motioned to a chair and they both sat down. Marissa had, by now, assessed Tom and found him to be good rebound material. She leaned across the table and offered him her hand. Tom shook it politely and said,

"Tom Chase, came over from Australia." Marissa smiled widely at him and replied,

"Marissa Cooper, lived here all my life." He smiled back at her brightly. Summer couldn't help but notice that he didn't kiss her hand as he did with hers. This made her feel better even though Marissa and Tom were smiling across the table at each other. Tom not quite so flirty as Marissa.

"I love your accent." Marissa said and Summer could barely believe this. This was the new Marissa Cooper. The one who didn't have a boyfriend. Thought you couldn't blame her, she hadn't been without a boyfriend since year six or whenever she and Luke started being official boyfriend and girlfriend. Summer really had to do something about getting her back together with Ryan. They were such a cute couple.

As Summer had been thinking about this Tom and Marissa had been chatting about random things. Marissa's side of the conversation was flirty and Tom's was levelheaded and logical but also quick witted and funny. But Marissa always added a few extra levels on the volume button when she laughed. Her laugh seemed to scare the birds out of the trees.

"You know, you should go to Paris next year Sum." Marissa directed at Summer and her eyes said it all. 'Paris' was a codeword used in the past (by Summer mostly) to say that they wanted the other gone so that they could make their move. A nice way of saying 'Get lost I want to pash him!'. But there was no way Summer was letting Tom be the rebound man.

"No, I reckon you would fit so much better in to _Paris _Coop. You know way more French than I do." Marissa's eyes widened as Summer retaliated and then they narrowed as she realised that Summer wanted _her_ to go.

"But you'd enjoy the shopping in _Paris_ more than me."

"You'd like the art in _Paris_."

"You'd like the guys in _Paris_." Tom had been watching the Parisian sayings being tossed between the two girls as if it had been a tennis match. He decided to cut in at the last sling. As much as he was enjoying it he knew he had to cut in a the last one. He didn't like the idea of Summer hanging around those smooth French guys from Paris.

"Girls, girls. There's obviously a codeword you using here, I'm wildly guessing that it's Paris, and I reckon that it should all boil down to this. A rock paper scissors competition. Best out of three." Tom grinned at their disbelieving faces. Then both of them made their decisions and said,

"Fine." Tom's grin shrunk slightly. He hadn't really expected them to say yes. He was just messing with them. But then he settled down, this might be even more fun than messing with them. In this he didn't have to choose and that made everything better. For everyone.

The first game was Summer chose paper and Marissa chose rock. In the second Summer chose rock and Marissa chose paper. After a long staring competition and a few suppressed snickers from Tom Summer chose scissors and Marissa chose paper. Summer was pronounced the winner and Marissa slinked off.

"So, what did you win? A house, a car or a date?" Tom asked and hoped that it was the last one.

"Time to talk to you." Summer said offhandedly and ignored the puzzled look Tom gave her.

"So how did yesterday go?" Tom gave her a questioning look and she elaborated, "You know, with the surf and the sand and Seth."

"Oh yeah, right. Well, Seth forgot his board and ended up sitting on the sand while I surfed for an hour or so. Your waves are alright, I still miss Aussie waves though." Summer nodded and decided not to tell Tom that Seth didn't actually have a surf board in the first place. It was one of the things she pointed out to Seth after they'd had that conversation with Tom yesterday.

"So why'd you choose to come to Newport?" Summer asked and Tom replied,

"Actually, I came her because a friend was here and my mum wanted to meet up with them but ended up missing her. Just. But she ended up getting a job in this new restaurant called the..."

"Lighthouse." Summer and Tom said together. Tom smiled at her and asked,

"Yeah, you know of it?" Summer replied,

"Seth's dad and Marissa's dad are your mum's boss. Is she a chef or a waitress?"

"A chef. Head chef to be exact." Summer nodded and then asked,

"Who was your friend?"

"Anna, she left for her aunt and uncle's place." Summer's mouth dropped,

"Anna. As in Anna Stern?"

"Yeah, you know her?" Summer replied in a voice higher than usual,

"Yeah, I mean, Seth and Anna had this thing... You know, before Seth and I got together..." Summer trailed off and Tom just nodded, saving her from any further embarrassment. Summer rolled her eyes at him and said,

"Okay, moving on..." Tom was looking at her, enthralled. She seemed to be completely unawares of him but secretly she was smiling on the inside. Tom then said suddenly,

"I'm coming to your class."

"You are?" Summer looked shocked and surprised and happy at the same time. Tom nodded and said,

"They underestimated my History ability, and my Maths ability, and my Music ability, and my Geo ability, and so many more that I really can't remember them. I mean, they reckoned that I was the stupid idiot from Australia." Tom rolled his eyes in a Summer fashion.

"And you're not?" Summer asked mock curious. Tom grinned at her and then said,

"So now I'm in your history class." Summer smiled remembering Coop's original conversation with her about how the History class needed spicing up.

"Do you have a Prom date?" Summer blurted out. Tom looked at her and was speechless. For once a smile didn't appear on his face after she'd said something. Now it was just a look of confusion and possibly a defensive look.

"Uh, no?" He asked/replied. To him Prom night wasn't the most revered night of the social year. Tom was the sort of person who preferred to do personal stuff. The sort of stuff that hit the girl right in her most personal place. Her heart (get your mind out of the gutter!). But if that was what the girl wanted then so be it. Prom it was. And he'd heard from Anna that social stuff was pretty holy in Newport.

"Because I mean, you would be Prom King. I mean, you have the potential. The personality, the looks, the instant popularity and the surfing skills." Tom got his cool back and grinned at the last point,

"You've never even seen me surf before." Tom protested. Summer brushed that off,

"I can tell. So whoever your date is she would probably end up being Prom Queen. You know?"

"Uh, no?" He said again, her sudden outbursts were starting to worry him now more than make him amused. He knew she wanted to say something but couldn't quite spit it out. He wanted to help her but he knew there was nothing he could do.

"Marissa would make a good Prom Queen." As soon as it popped out of Summer's mouth she regretted it. She didn't want to say it but it just seemed to pop out, as did everything else that she thought. She saw the hurt look on Tom's face and felt even worse than she already did. He was really hurt by what she said.

"I guess she would." Tom said quietly and then got up and left Summer all alone to curse herself for what she'd just said. It was something she was going to regret for a while.

(Okay, next time Tom is going to talk to Marissa because he knows about what happened with her and Ryan. And then, I don't know if it will be next chapter or not, he'll talk to Ryan.)


	3. I'll Fix Him

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.

Chapter 3: I'll fix him

(This takes place just after the Paris Hilton/LA episode…)

"Tom!" Tom turned around and saw Marissa jogging towards him. He stopped and smiled at her. Marissa caught up to him and said,

"I'm so sorry about earlier. I was acting so flirty and slutty. I'm really ashamed of myself." Tom smiled at her gently and lifted her chin up so that she looked at him,

"Hey, no need. I mean, I can read people like books and I knew that that wasn't you. Besides that," Tom's grin widened and he dropped his hand, "Anna told me about you. About how nice you are and everything." Marissa looked up at him with her wide brown eyes and asked,

"You know Anna?" Tom replied,

"Yeah, we've known each other for years. Because our parents knew each other before we were born so when we were young we met and hit it off. So we became pen pals and told each other every single detail in our lives. She had quite a bit to say about Newport." Tom grinned and added,

"And the social structure and the story behind who's with who." Marissa blushed as Tom looked at her and she remembered Ryan. Marissa turned her gaze down again as she remembered. Tom's face went serious and he asked,

"Do you love him?" Marissa looked up at him suddenly, as if swept up by the indecency of the question and then dropped her gaze again as she blushed,

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Tom turned his head to the side, he knew he'd gone too far but he also knew that Ryan Marissa belonged together from what Anna told him. He decided to change the conversation and said,

"But you know the strange thing is that Anna didn't tell me about Seth." Tom shot a sideways glance at Marissa and managed to catch her eye. Somehow he reminded her of Ryan. He managed to make her feel completely relaxed and made her feel as if, at times, she was with another version of Ryan who was more relaxed with his smiles. He was the sort of person that you couldn't hold at an arm's length even if you wanted to.

When Marissa didn't respond Tom didn't say anything. He just stood there and decided to say what he had on his mind. He would be a hypocrite if he didn't, he hated it when people felt like they couldn't be completely at ease and be able to say anything to him.

"You should tell him." Tom blurted out and felt stupid as Marissa looked at him accusingly. She sounded exasperated with slight tears,

"I have told him. I have. So many times. But he always just pushes me away…" Tom looked away and said,

"He's stupid. I'll fix him." Marissa looked at him, puzzled,

"What?" Tom turned to her with a hint of a smile on his face,

"I'll talk to him for you." Marissa's face was graced with a smile and a hint of a blush as she studied the ground and said quietly,

"Thanks." Tom lifted her chin up gently again and said,

"Hey, you so deserve it. He just has to see what's in front of him first." Marissa finally smiled a blinding smile as she looked up at him and they shared that moment. Both of them smiling brilliantly and feeling better.

"Marissa?" Tom heard the unsure voice from the side to him and he dropped his hand but couldn't help thinking about how much it looked like they were about to kiss. He turned and saw a guy standing there. He had hair that was blonde/brown and was getting to be slightly long. His eyes were dark and brooding but there was a touch of hurt in them. He guessed that this was Ryan. Or that there was some other guy who was involved with Marissa.

Marissa looked at Tom and he nodded for her to leave. He would be able to handle this. He saw that Ryan was about to start after her but Tom said,

"Ryan." Ryan turned to face him. His face had hardened and his eyes had lost their hurt quality. Ryan looked at him hostilely and asked,

"What?" Tom almost backed off and raised his hands in defence,

"I'm not going for your girl, man." Ryan looked at him and then rolled his eyes,

"She's not my girl." Ryan backed off and sat down on the brick wall behind him. Tom took this as a sign that he could come within a metre radius. He sat on the wall next to him and said,

"You guys would make a good couple." Tom said casually and studied Ryan's reaction intently. Ryan had a slight smile on his face but erased it quickly. Ryan turned to him and, when he did, there was no expression on his face. But his eyes had softened.

"You reckon?" Tom smiled at him and said,

"Yeah. And I'm not the only one who thinks that." Tom glanced over to Marissa who was talking to someone just across from the wall. Tom saw Ryan follow his gaze and saw him look at Marissa forlornly. Ryan looked at Marissa and Tom saw a look flit across his features. And at that moment he knew that he didn't need to tell Ryan this. Or even need to 'fix' Ryan. All he needed was a push in the right direction. Something Tom was happy to do.

"Really?" Ryan looked back at Tom, this time not hiding his slight smile. Tom nodded, happy at what he had accomplished, for the moment. Ryan had changed Newport bit by bit when he had arrived. Soon Tom hoped to do the same. They were the same person, fighting for the same cause. And they would be fighting together against the same enemy soon enough.

Tom looked at the building that was just behind Marissa and saw Seth go in. He knew there was one more thing he had to do. One more thing he had to change today. One more thing he had to prepare. Actually, one more person he had to prepare.

Tom pushed himself off the wall and saluted a goodbye to Ryan. Ryan nodded back to him and Tom walked in the direction of the student lounge. Time for stage two of changing Newport. Getting it ready for the return of Anna Stern.

(Anna's coming in the next chapter. And she and Seth will rekindle the chemistry that they 'never had'. Summer and Tom will rekindle some of their own chemistry and so will Marissa and Ryan.)


	4. Arrival

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.

Chapter 4: Arrival

(Set after Luke leaves. Soz no RM happenin in this chapter….I'll, put some later on…but they _are_back together)

Tom was waiting at the airport. Anna was finally coming home. He wasn't the only one at the airport but, beside him stood Seth, Ryan, Summer and Marissa. Summer wasn't as joyful as Seth but she had something to take her mind off that. Tom. They traveled in the same car to the airport, Tom's BMW Z4. Seth had been the one who insisted that they take Tom's car because it looked, and was, so cool. Seth's 4WD was forgotten quickly.

Seth sat in the back, enjoying the TV on the back of the headrests that Tom's dad had installed back in Australia. Summer sat up the front because there was no room in the back next to Seth. The back could barely fit Seth. Tom's surfboard, bass guitar and acoustic guitar covered most of the back seat but Seth insisted that he was quite fine sitting there with things about to fall on him. Summer couldn't fit so she got to sit up front with Tom. On the way they struck up a conversation about creepy movies.

They were all standing at the airport. None of them were talking, instead they all studied the corridor that Anna was about to come out of. Tom because he'd never seen her in the flesh before, Seth because he really missed her, Ryan because that was the only place he could look without glancing at Marissa, Marissa because it was exactly opposite Ryan and Summer because Tom was standing in front of it. Then Anna walked through and was met with Seth running to hug her and the rest of the group followed between a run and a walk.

Tom got to her next and gave her a big hug.

"You look more beautiful than in the photos." Tom said and grinned at her.

"Thanks, you look better than in the photos too. No wait, you don't." Anna replied with a laugh and a grin. Summer and Marissa then gave her a hug lasting a second. Ryan and Anna then stood there uncomfortably until Ryan opened his arms and they hugged too.

"So how long are you staying?" Seth asked. Anna looked at him and replied,

"Hopefully for a long time. Longer than last time at least." They held eye contact and they both seemed to want that. She then moved her gaze to the general direction of the group and put her hand on Tom's shoulder,

"Hope Tom hasn't caused too many waves around here." Everyone shook their heads and laughed. Anna lightly punched Tom's arm and he gave her a look.

"You've been waiting to do that for a while now haven't you?" Anna scrunched up her nose and nodded. Tom smiled and messed her hair up. Anna ducked and Tom started to chase her when she fell on top of Seth. Tom couldn't help glancing at Summer and, for once, she wasn't looking back at him. Instead Summer's eyes were fixed squarely on Seth so Tom returned his eyes to the two on the airport floor too.

Everyone was uncomfortable then and they all looked at Seth and Anna to see their reactions, so that they knew how to react themselves.

Down below, lying on the ground, Seth and Anna looked at each other. Their faces were millimeters apart and they seemed to be frozen.

"I should probably get up," Anna said.

"Probably," Seth replied.

"We should probably get up now," Anna continued.

"Probably." Seth replied again, not able to say anything else. Anna looked away and then said,

"Probably." She then pushed herself up from the ground on either side of Seth. Tom looked at the both of them and then asked,

"Are you two okay?" Ryan then dragged Seth away so that he couldn't see the amount of hurt on Summer's face. Anna gazed after Seth and then replied,

"Probably."

(Short chapter, sorry about that. Promise to do more next chapter. A kiss is going to happen. Or two. Not sure yet but something is gonna happen. But it might just be platonic.)


	5. Kisses

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.

Chapter 5: Kisses

Tom was sitting on the wall, experimenting with chords on an acoustic guitar. If Marissa had seen him she would have seen a flashback of her approaching Luke whilst he was sitting in the same position on the same wall. But it wasn't Marissa who saw him, it was Summer. He didn't notice her standing there so she just stood there, looking at him playing some chords.

"Chase, you found a Prom Queen yet?" Tom looked up quickly, saw Summer and looked as if he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Uh, no." Tom said and then looked up at her, unsure if she knew what he was doing or not. She decided that it was her job to investigate what had shaken the unshakeable Aussie surfer.

"What are you doing?" Tom seemed to relax because she didn't know yet but he tensed back up as he realised that she was actually expecting a response. He quickly told a half lie half truth that didn't reveal what he was really doing and what was at the heart of what he was doing.

"Just, uh, practicing some chords." Not untrue but not the whole truth, just as he'd wanted. Summer got quickly bored with the subject, it wasn't as juicy as she'd expected. Tom put the guitar behind him and let the silence settle comfortably. Summer looked far off into the distance, and appeared to be thinking hard. Then, all of a sudden, turned to him and asked,

"Do you like me?" Tom's eyes widened. They didn't exactly make girls like Summer in Australia. Or anywhere else in the world. That was one of things that he… Tom realised that she was still expecting a response.

"Yeah." Tom grinned at her as he replied and wondered what was going to happen next. There had to be a reason that she had asked that so out of the blue. Tom wished that he knew and hoped that something was going to happen that neither of them was going to regret. Summer looked at him for a moment before grabbing his head and pulling him forward into a kiss.

Tom pulled away a second later but didn't really pull away. Their foreheads were touching and their breaths mingled together in the air. Summer stood there, frozen, and then pulled away. She looked at Tom and seemed to have lost the ability to speak, she glanced away. Tom got off the wall and tried to get Summer to look up at him but she refused to.

She then walked away and Tom thought he could see the start of tears forming in her eyes.

"Summer?" Summer turned and looked at Tom. His thoughts were confirmed as he saw the tears in her eyes.

"It was just platonic." Summer then walked away and Tom did all he could to not go after her. He felt emotions building up inside of him and locked his jaw shut before grabbing his guitar and running off in the opposite direction.

What they both didn't know was that a girl called Tina was watching the whole thing. This would be interesting information for someone who would be very interested in it.

-------

Seth sat down on the couch of the student's lounge and sighed. Summer was nowhere to be found and neither was Ryan or Marissa. Just his luck, lose all of his friends and be lonerised in the place where everyone hung out in their groups.

Someone's hands clapped over his eyes and he sat up in shock. They were warm and soft so that ruled out Ryan, who didn't do that sort of thing anyway. Marissa wouldn't do it, not really that type. So it was probably Summer. Great timing Sum, he thought.

"Hey, I was looking all over for…" Seth pulled the hands off and turned around to see Anna standing there with a smile on her face. Seth found himself smiling idiotically back at her. Anna walked around the couch and sat down next to him.

"So how are you Anna?" Seth asked, he had to admit somehow he was more pleased at seeing Anna than Summer. At least Anna wasn't obsessed with Tom, only best friends. Besides, he really had missed Anna. He missed having her around and getting that feeling in his stomach that he no longer got when he was around Summer.

"Good, so how are things in Newport?" Anna asked, a glint in her eyes that made Seth's stomach go even crazier and he had to strain against clutching it to calm his stomach. He really needed some harsh antacids or something.

"Great. I mean not so great, Oliver sort of left things in a mess around here... I went to LA!" Anna's smile widened and she said,

"Really? That is so cool! Did you have fun?"

"Well, I was only there for an hour or something but I got to see a lot of strippers, including my aunt." Anna raised her eyebrow and Seth continued,

"Don't worry, Marissa's dad saved her." Anna's eyebrow didn't go down though and Seth understood that. When he said what had happened he felt the urge to raise his eyebrow too because it sounded so weird. If he hadn't been there himself he wouldn't have believed it. He probably would've thrown a comment at the person who'd said it and dismissed what had been said.

"Did you know that pictures are the autograph of the 21st century? I didn't actually know that until LA, seems that my picture phone is the 21st century pen." Seth took out his phone and looked at it before dismissing it with a cursory look and putting it back in his pocket. Seth realised that Anna was looking at him. He turned back to her and said,

"What? Have I got something on my face?" Seth wiped around his lips before Anna smiled at him.

"No, it's just… I've missed you. A lot." Seth stopped wiping and smiled at Anna. He touched her gently on the arm and replied,

"Well I've missed you a lot too Anna. Even though it hasn't really been that long. Oh, did I mention that Luke left with his father. Yeah, cos Marissa's mom is marrying my grandfather and Luke was having sex with/loved her. It's a twisted web of lies and deceit." Anna looked at Seth and this time she was frozen with shock, instead of having the mental capacity to lift an eyebrow.

They sat like that for a few more seconds whilst Anna got used to that idea and then, when she could finally function again she closed the slight gap between her top and bottom jaw. She looked at Seth in a way that he hadn't seen in a while. Not in a while.

"Do you know what I miss most about us?" Anna leaned forward and Seth leaned forward a bit too, not able to resist. Seth gulped and asked,

"What?" Anna looked at him and smiled,

"This." She leaned forward and pressed her lips gently against his. His hand went behind her neck and pulled her in towards him and her hands were in his hair and on his neck….

"Seth?" Seth and Anna unwillingly broke the kiss and looked at the intruder. It was Tom.

(Next chapter we'll find out something new about Tom. Summer tells Marissa what she did. Talking and bonding are in order. And the suspense of Tina doing something bad is hanging like a black cloud. Something's going to happen and someone else is going to come in the next couple of chapters to shake some things up a bit more.)


	6. Talking, Bonding and Crying

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.

Chapter 6: Talking, Bonding and Crying

"Tom!" Seth said and Seth and Anna jumped apart. Anna couldn't meet Tom's eyes and Seth just stared at the ground. Tom looked at both of them and then sighed and sat down next to Anna and put his head in his hands. When he finally lifted his head he sighed heavily. Anna glanced at him and he nodded, letting her go because she knew that he wanted to talk to Seth. They knew each other well enough to almost read each others minds.

Seth looked up to see Anna leave and then managed to look at Tom. He saw an emotion on his face that he definitely wasn't expecting. Somehow it was understanding. Or something that looked a hell of a lot like it. Tom turned his face to Seth and then said,

"Seems a lot of that's going around. Kissing that is." Seth opened his mouth, almost not wanting to know but knowing all the same. Whether he wanted to know or not.

"You kissed Summer didn't you man?" Tom hesitated and then said,

"Yeah." Seth nodded and then turned away. Tom looked at him and turned away as he said,

"I'm sorry Seth. I'm really…" Seth turned to him and said,

"You kissed her man." Tom turned to him and retorted,

"And you kissed Anna."

"It's not the same." Tom stood up and said,

"No, of course it's not. You cheated on your girlfriend and… I kissed your girlfriend." Tom hesitated before he told the lie but he couldn't let Seth know the truth. It would hurt him too much. If Summer was telling the truth when she said that it was only platonic, which she wasn't, then there was no reason to hurt Seth over it. Just as there was no use in telling Summer what he'd seen, that was Seth's job.

Tom sat back down and the silence that had settled over them was something that Seth didn't want to break but he knew that he had to. He had to make sure. He knew that Tom cared for her and he knew that he wouldn't want to hurt her. And neither did Seth. So he just had to make sure.

"You're not going to tell her are you? Please don't." Tom looked at Seth with an expression that scared him. The expression was so dangerous that if looks could do what the person giving them wanted to do Seth would burst into flames. But Seth could also partly understand the person giving them so it wasn't that bad. Yet.

"You're not going to tell her." The steel that was in the foundation of his voice made Seth flinch. Clearly he did care for Summer, but he was also the sort who was completely truthful so it wasn't going to work out as Seth had planned.

"I-I just think that there's no reason to hurt her unless it's uh absolutely necessary." Tom looked at him and then looked away in disgust. Tom had expected more from Seth. Seth was a decent guy, he loved Summer. It's just that he loved Anna too. At least that was what Tom had convinced himself until now. How could he lie to her if he loved her?

"I can understand why the kiss happened. I know what happened between you and Anna before. I saw what happened when she came back. But how can you keep something like that from someone that you love?" Tom asked, he turned back to Seth and his jaw was forced shut because he was worried that he would say something he'd regret.

"Yeah, I do love her."

"Then tell her."

"If I do then she'll….we'll…"

"You got yourself into this. Face it. Deal with it. This is your mess. Not mine."

"Why are you taking this so personally man?" Tom collapsed onto the back of the couch and sighed.

"Because I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this kind of stuff. The person who was the victim of all this stuff." Seth collapsed onto the back of the couch next to him and sighed,

"I'm sorry man." Tom looked at him and said,

"It's okay man. You didn't know. I'm just sensitive about this sort of stuff." Tom held his hand out to Seth and Seth slapped the back of his hand against the back of Tom's then they slapped the palms against each other and they gripped each others hands. They smiled and just relaxed in the squishy lounge.

-------

"I don't know why I did it Coop. It's just…I just…" Summer covered her face with her hand and felt like she was on the brink of tears. She sat down on a seat and Marissa dragged a chair to sit opposite her. Summer needed some friend counseling and fast. Something had gotten to her and Marissa needed to help her. Summer was a wreck.

"Calm down Sum. Just start from the top." Marissa looked at Summer, really worried about her. Summer removed her hand from her face and looked back at Marissa. Tears sprang into her eyes and she attempted to say what had happened to put her in this state,

"I kissed him Coop."

"Who? Tom?" Summer looked at Marissa and felt the tears almost spill over her the bottom of her eyes. She nodded and bit her bottom lip. Marissa knowing just turned the dagger. It meant that it was obvious. What had been happening, the relationship they had, was all obvious.

"What happened? Why did you?" Marissa asked, trying to get to the bottom of what was turning into a Newport version of Dawson's Creek. Just have some blond-brown haired guy come around the corner and they would be in the creek. Ryan rounded the corner and Marissa sighed. Next thing one of the guys would be gay. Thankfully that didn't happen. Although Luke's dad was gay….

"I asked him if he liked me. He said yes and then I, I kissed him. I don't know why, it's just… He seemed so… I was so… But then he pulled away. And I left." She looked at Marissa, wanting help. Wanting the pain to go away. And definitely not wanting to think about what she'd just done to Seth. How hurt he would be if he knew. How much this would kill him.

"Sum…" A tear fell down Summer's cheek and she said in a shaky voice,

"I just can't believe that I did this to Seth. If he knew… If he knew what I'd done…. " Marissa leaned forward to Summer and gave her a hug,

"It's okay Sum. It's okay." Summer held onto Marissa and felt the tears make their way down her cheeks and stain Marissa's top. She sniffed and pulled away, having to say what she would know that she'd regret. But she just had to say it.

"It's just that I… I think that… I think that I may… I may be in…."

"Don't say it." Summer and Marissa turned to the voice and Summer felt as if her heart had been ripped out. As she looked at who was standing there she felt her future being ripped to shreds. At least the next week. It now would be full of ice-cream eating, tears and gorging herself with chocolate and other 'comforting' junk food.

And who was standing there? Well let's just say that they weren't exactly that happy in the current state of things. And could you blame them? I mean it's not as if what they'd just heard would make their future any easier than Summer's. Especially because it was…

(Well that was fun….HAHAHA cliffie, cliffie, cliffie, cliffie….HEE HEE HEE…KEKEKE…ROFL….that was fun…P…cyz next time…I promise not to make too many cliffies in the future if u review! Not that that cliffie was even that much of one.)


	7. History Class

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.

Chapter 7: History Class

"Cohen?" Summer said and wiped away some tears as she looked up at Seth Cohen standing there in all his geeky glory and continued,

"Oh my god. I can't believe…"

"I'm so sorry Summer." Summer then interrupted him,

"No, I should be the one who is sorry. I didn't realise that you…" Seth cut her off with a confused look,

"Wait, didn't Tom tell you…" Seth trailed of as he realised what he'd just potentially revealed to a Summer who didn't know what he was talking about. But knowing Summer she'd soon weasel it out of him. One way or another.

"Tell me what?" Summer looked up at Seth. Tears still stained her cheeks and her eyes were wide. Seth sighed. She may as well find out sooner rather than later and from him rather than Tom. Tom did have the upper hand here anyway.

"That," Seth sighed again, "Uh, Summer? Don't get mad okay?" When Summer didn't reply Seth continued,

"I kissed Anna."

"You what?!? I can't believe this! I-I was crying real tears over you Cohen!" Summer stood up and slapped Seth. Apparently she'd completely forgotten about how she'd kissed Tom earlier and was about to disclose some very hurtful information. Seth looked at Summer and then decided that he deserved this and walked off silently. Summer looked after his retreating figure and sat back down.

Marissa walked over to her and put her arms around her.

"It'll be okay Summer." Then Summer began to cry again.

-------

"Hey." Ryan greeted Tom with a smile and Tom replied,

"Hey. How're things?" Ryan looked at him and knew partially what he was talking about. He just had to make sure.

"Things?" He asked and Tom looked at him for a second before smiling and saying,

"Yeah. Things. Such as you and Marissa." Ryan looked back at him and a ghost of a smile flickered across his features.

"Well, I took your advice. We… We're together again. And I'm…"

"Happier than you've ever been before." Tom interrupted with his observation so as not to make Ryan attempt to explain what had happened to him lately. He knew the feeling of not being able to explain the feelings which were overtaking you. Sometimes they were good and sometimes they were bad but they had the same effect.

"Yeah." Ryan said with a shocked expression on his face. The shock was only mild. Like most of his expressions except for his smiles around Marissa lately.

"I didn't know that anyone could be as happy as you two have been lately." Ryan half smiled and the bell rang.

"What've you got now?" Ryan asked.

"History. Your class." Ryan nodded and they went to the History classroom.

"So do you know where Marissa is anyway?" Ryan shook his head and replied,

"She went off with Summer. Summer was looking pretty upset." Tom went suddenly quiet and Ryan knew that Tom knew why Summer was upset. Ryan also knew that it wasn't something that he should question right now.

"Well I guess we'll be able to catch up with the both of them in History." Tom said in a forced voice and smiled in a forced way at Ryan. Ryan twitched his lips back, something that was more heartfelt than all Tom had done.

The teacher looked at the two boys who'd come in a few minutes late and stared at them with a death glare until they both sat down. It was a substitute and they'd never seen her before. She was young had long brown hair and wore glasses. Tom stared at her and couldn't keep his eyes off her. He knew her. She seemed so familiar to him.

"Today we'll be splitting into partners. You each will study a past American president…" The door opened to reveal Summer and Marissa standing there. Summer looked as if she'd been crying, her eyes were red and her face was covered with her hair which hung around her face. The teacher fixed them with the same look she gave Tom and Seth. Marissa muttered an apology and they sat down in the only available seats left. Across from Tom and Ryan.

Tom tried to catch Summer's eyes but he didn't manage to even get a flicker of recognition. Instead she just looked at the ground, the hair still hanging around her face and she didn't even look up when Marissa muttered something incoherent to her.

The teacher cleared her throat and continued,

"As I was saying. I will pair you up and you will study a past American President. You will then give a 5 minute presentation on the president. Naming such things as what they did in their term. Good or bad. What laws they passed or eradicated. If they helped the economy or condemned it. A full report. None of the stuffing around that most of you are so used to."

Summer didn't even look up once during the whole of the teacher's ramble. No-one bothered to listen but most people scribbled on the table, their books or their hands. Most of them didn't listen from the beginning and the rest dozed off when she started talking about what they had to do, i.e. using words like 'term', 'law' and 'economy'.

The teacher then said,

"You four who came in late. You, person who needs a haircut go with the short darker haired girl. You two blonde brown people go together." Summer finally looked up at the word short. Tom could see something flare up in her eyes but then die back down and she looked back down. Tom looked at her in sadness and wished that he could help.

"Hey, person who needs a haircut. You hear me?" Tom looked at the teacher and nodded,

"Yeah." He said quietly and turned back to look at Summer. He was worried. She usually never let anything get her down. Even after only knowing her for not that long he knew that much. She was the one person who he could count on to break the silence and make a comment. Whether it was funny, an insult or stupid didn't matter. She was the extrovert.

The teacher paired up the rest of the class and then said,

"You can start working now. Brainstorming. Whatever." Marissa got up and Tom got up too and they swapped places. Tom moved his chair so that his body faced Summer and he said,

"Hey. You okay?" He gently put his hand on her shoulder. Summer looked at him and he saw the tears. She looked at his hand and said,

"Please don't." Tom took away his hand and said,

"I'm really sorry. It's all my fault." Summer looked at him and then said,

"Yeah. It is. If you had never come then I would never know you. Seth and I would still be together and happy. And I would never have fallen in love with…" Summer looked in the opposite direction and Tom looked at Summer. He knew he could do nothing. This was her internal problem. She needed help but until she let him in he couldn't do anything externally. Only offer comfort.

"With who?" Summer looked at him again.

"You know who." Summer kept looking at him this time. It seemed she wanted to know how what she'd just said affected the person involved. Tom didn't move away. He didn't flinch. He didn't kiss her. He didn't do anything but look at her. Tom eventually said,

"If you need anyone there for you. I'm always going to be here for you. No matter what." Summer nodded and then looked away again. Tom just sat there, patient. When she looked back to see if he'd disappeared she was shocked to see that he hadn't disappeared. Far from it. He was exactly were she needed him. By

her side.

Tom reached out and put a strand of hair behind her ear. She leaned into his hand and closed her eyes. At peace. When she opened her eyes she saw exactly what she needed. Tom's face. Then she realised that it was true. He would actually be there for her. He would actually be the person who was always there for her.

As she realised this she closed her eyes and smiled peacefully.

(Aww… I just had to picture Tom as the really good, sweet guy. Because he is! Move outta the way here comes Mr Right! Next chapter getting ready for prom. You might think you know who Tom's queen is going to be but someone's going to come and shake it up... Promise! The teacher's got something the do with it. I might end it with a rainy scene…Hm, that just came into my head. That would be so romantic! Okay. That would work. There's not going to be that much SethAnna left except for some dancing and possibly more kissing.)


	8. Ex and Gun Equals Bad

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.

Chapter 8: Ex and Gun Equals Bad

Tom walked into the house and opened the door further so that Summer could step in. It wasn't really a house. It was actually a townhouse. Tom looked around and was happy to find the house in the same state as when he left. Reasonable. Obviously his room wasn't reasonable but Summer didn't need to know that.

He dropped the keys on a stand near the door and said,

"There's no place like home." Summer looked at him and a ghost of a smile graced her lips before she returned her gaze to their surroundings. There were several paintings on the walls and a sculpture or two graced the shadowy corners. Summer had to admit that this house made her feel more at home than her own.

Tom took in his surroundings. Good, he didn't come off as too much of a slob. Not that he cared. Of course not. Ahem.

Summer gaze returned up to Tom's face and she looked at him. Eventually he looked back at her and they stood like that for a second. Summer looked down for a second before looking back up at him and said,

"Thankyou." Tom cocked his head to the side slightly, confused.

"For what?" He asked and looked down at Summer. The kiss they'd shared earlier kept flashing back into his memory. And what she'd said afterwards.

"For helping." That was probably the opportune moment to bend down and kiss Summer softly on the lips but Tom couldn't help but get a flashback of Summer standing there with tears in her eyes and saying, 'It was only platonic.' Tom looked away and refused to turn back to Summer.

"Your welcome." Tom said in a steely tone and Summer looked at him in confusion.

"What's wrong Tom?" Summer asked and tried to catch Tom's eye but he refused to look at her at all. All he could see was her with tears in her eyes and saying those dreaded words, 'It was only platonic.' Over and over again until Tom felt his eyes burn with potential tears. Tom couldn't speak, knowing that that would uncover the almost tears that would shake his voice. He swallowed obviously, looked at her and asked,

"You remember a little word called 'platonic'?" Summer looked at him for a second and then closed her eyes, having remembered what had happened.

"Oh my god. I didn't mean…"

"What? Didn't mean what?" Tom interrupted her. His eyes were even more intense and seemed to drill through Summer's consciousness. Summer almost flinched.

"It was complicated. I had a boyfriend at the time. It's not good to think the kind of thoughts I was thinking about you when I had a boyfriend who wasn't you." As Tom looked at her his expression softened and said,

"Had? Past tense?" Summer nodded and said,

"Past tense." Tom looked down at Summer and felt his heart swell. His chest filled with a bubbly feeling and he felt like he was about to explode with happiness. Tom's hand went down to cradle Summer's face again and she relaxed in his hand. He bent down slowly and was about to kiss her when…

The door burst open and the two burst apart. Tom looked to the doorway and saw the silhouette of a female. To tall to be his mom he was stumped. Then his eyes got used to the light that streamed in and he saw who it was. And gasped.

The girl standing in the doorway had shoulder length bleached blonde hair, tanned skin and amber eyes. She was as tall as a supermodel and her eyes glowed with an intensity that Summer didn't know existed. She felt Tom sigh next to her and his shoulders slumped. Whoever this girl was Tom knew her and she knew him.

The girl stepped out of the doorway and said,

"Hi Tom. Miss me?"

"Sarah," Tom said quietly and Summer looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"Going to introduce me?" Tom sighed and turned to Summer.

"Summer this," Tom vaguely indicated to Sarah, "This is my ex Sarah." He turned to Sarah and said,

"Sarah this is Summer." Sarah nodded at Summer and then said to Tom,

"Didn't know you went for brunettes." Tom blushed slightly and felt ashamed of himself. He didn't know why but he felt as if the clashing of his past and present was too much for him. The difference between the two was incredibly obvious. One was tall and blonde and the other was sort and brunette. Though both were outspoken one was way ruder than the other. And they both came from opposite sides of the world.

"You don't know a lot about me Sarah. That was Rachel you sent to check me out, didn't you? As a History substitute?" Summer's jaw opened as she realised that the substitute they'd just had had been planted by the psycho ex in front of her.

"Yeah, smart boy. Also this girl called Tina decided to fill me in on the little kiss you two shared." Sarah smiled at him but Tom failed to smile back. Summer felt some anger rise up but she pushed it back down because she knew that this wasn't the time to explode at Tom's ex girl-friend.

"Where's Brett?" Sarah's smile failed at the mention of Brett and she almost bared her teeth.

"You just had to bring that up didn't you?" Sarah said in a snide tone. Tom opened his arms and said,

"You know me, always bringing up the past and purposefully hurting people." Obviously this had also been a past issue with them as Sarah's expression became more hostile. Sarah reached into her purse and whipped out a hand gun. She held it at Tom and he held his arms out again, this time in surrender.

"You don't know what I was put through. What if felt like." Tom interrupted her, not able to take it anymore,

"YOU?!? What you were put through?!? I was the one who found you and Brett in the bed room. I was the one who was left for Brett. I was the one who was humiliated. I was the one who got beaten up because I tried to protect you when Brett tried to hit you. I got spat in the face by you after I was beaten up for trying to protect you…" Tom was cut off with a bang as Sarah shot him in the shin. Tom collapsed on the ground and moaned as he felt the blood leave his body and the searing pain spread through his leg. He thought he heard a scream but he could have imagined it.

"I-I…" Tom tried to talk but was hushed by someone. Summer.

The room spun and Tom saw Summer's blurry face. And then it disappeared to be replaced by Sarah's face. Then a gun and a searing pain in his left arm. Everything went numb and so cold. It went so, so cold. Then he vaguely heard another bang and more coldness near his hip. He felt as if he was freezing and he saw Summer's face again and smiled.

"Are you cold too?" He could vaguely see some tears on her face and reached up to wipe them away before giving into the blackness. The nice, welcoming darkness.

Just before he fell completely into unconsciousness he heard,

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I love…"

------

(This is Summer's POV of what happened after Tom first got shot.)

"TOM!" Summer screamed and went to his side at once. She tried to cover his shin with some material but it got soaked with blood in seconds.

"I-I…" Tom tried to talk and Summer hushed him. She bent over him and felt tears sting her eyes and her throat tighten. Then she got hit aside as if she was a fly and had been swatted aside. Her head hit a table and she fell down. A stickiness was at her temple and she touched it and saw a redness cover her fingers.

She heard another bang and looked up to see Sarah standing over Tom with the gun smoking in her hand. She saw Sarah move her hand as Tom tried to move slightly and shoot him on the side of his hip.

"NO!!!!" Summer yelled and ran into Sarah who hit the wall and collapsed. She bent over Tom again and asked,

"Are you okay?" Tom looked at her but his eyes looked as if they couldn't focus on anything and they searched around for her. But his eyes just couldn't find her face. She took off her jacket and pressed it to Tom's hip injury, the one which looked the most serious.

"Are you cold too?" Tom reached up and wiped away some tears that Summer didn't know she had. Tom then slipped into unconsciousness and Summer bent down over his body and cried. She cried harder than she had in years. Even harder than when that thing with Seth happened. And that was pretty hard. She then sat next to Tom and said,

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I love you Tom. I love you. I love you so much."

When she dialled 911 her voice was still shaky but she'd managed to pull it together after a minute of crying so hard that she was worried that she would never be able to stop crying.


	9. Hospital

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.

Chapter 9: Hospital

Tom woke up slowly and groggily. As he woke up he felt the pain that flowed through his body like a current. No matter how many drugs they pumped into him the current would not be stopped. The pain was too great and the current too strong to be stopped with some milligrams of painkillers.

He slowly remembered what had happened. Sarah, the gun, the three shots, the scream and the coldness that had swept his body. Summer's face, Summer's tears, Summer's distant voice that had echoed in his mind before he'd completely lost consciousness and gave into the darkness so completely.

When his vision cleared he looked around him and saw what was obviously the inside of a hospital room. White paint covered three and a half of the walls and the only things that weren't white were the windows and the doors.. They'd simply covered the doors with lacquer and nailed them in place.

Tom saw the faults where no one else could. In the walls, the doors, the ceiling, the entire workmanship was poor and he longed to walk over to them and try to smooth out the faults. But a short burst of intense pain reminded him that this, among other things, was impossible.

The door opened slightly and Tom saw someone peek through the opening. The person blinked, as if not expecting Tom to be looking straight back at them. The door opened further and Summer stepped into the room.

Summer was holding a Starbuck's polystyrene coffee cup and sipped what seemed to be the last of it and threw it into a small bin that was next to the door she just came through and walked over to the chair that was right next to Tom's bed.

Tom smiled and made a move to sit up in bed but was stopped by the pain and Summer's gentle touch on his shoulder. It actually didn't hurt and Tom was surprised by this, she knew where to put her hand so that it didn't affect any of his bumps or bruises. Or bullet wounds.

"Don't. You'll pop a stitch if you try to get up." Summer said quietly. Tom accepted this without argument and collapsed back into the bed and the heap of pillows at his head.

"Thanks." He said weakly. Summer said nothing but just sat down and looked at him. She looked at him as if she hadn't seen him in a year. Or as if he'd gone to war for a few years and had finally returned to her. She leaned in and gently brushed his lips with her own but before he could react she withdrew in the same way she'd leaned in. Finally she spoke,

"I thought I'd lost you." She said quietly and choked up in the end. Tom reached out to her hand and squeezed in gently.

"Hey it's okay, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." Summer smiled,

"I know you probably didn't hear me. Well, you were passed out. But I thought I'd lost you. I have to tell you something. I… I lo-" Suddenly a woman that had the same face shape and eyes as Tom burst in. She looked at the two of them and said,

"I'm really, really sorry. I'll just go back outside." Tom's mom backed out and closed the door. She gave Tom and big smile and a thumbs up and he gave flashed back a sarcastic copy of her smile.

"Sorry about that. My mum has this impeccably bad timing. I'm shocked at how good she is at interrupting the most important things." Tom rolled his eyes and then asked Summer,

"What did you have to tell me?" Summer turned back to Tom and couldn't speak. For once she was completely speechless and she felt as if she couldn't say it now. She couldn't tell him. What if what she dreaded happened? What if he hated her or dumped her or ignored her afterwards? What if he said 'Thanks' like Ryan had said to Marissa? How could she take these chances now? Now that she thought about all of them and what these would do to her. They would destroy her.

"Nothing." She said simply. She hated that word. Nothing. Usually when someone said 'nothing' it meant 'something really big that I can't tell you and I'm just covering by saying it's nothing'. And for this reason she saw Tom's eyes narrow slightly and his forehead furrow with worry.

Tom knew something was off. He knew from his mum that when a girl said 'nothing' it meant 'something really big that I can't tell you and I'm just covering by saying it's nothing'. But he also knew that if he questioned her she wouldn't answer. At least not right away. It could only come out if Summer wanted it to. And until she did it would be like extracting teeth from a lion.

Unless she wanted him to.

Females were hard to decipher. Either she wanted him to ask her further and would give the information up at the first sign of questioning or would bite his head off at the first sign of questioning. One or the other. He started to do Eenie Meenie Minie Mo in his head. It ended up being not questioning.

He noticed that Summer was looking at him, her head slightly cocked to the side and her eyebrows showing the first signs of being knotted together. He smiled at her and couldn't help but feeling that he looked the same as Garfield after he'd wrecked Jon's office. This just seemed to confuse Summer further and he gave her what he hoped was a reassuring grin. That seemed to work on Summer and she relaxed.

Summer looked into his electric blue eyes and found herself sighing. She remembered the first time she looked into those eyes. His first day. When he was laughing at some lame joke that girl Tina was saying. Tina. There was something that was off about that girl. Lately she'd been shooting daggers at her in the hallways for no reason. One time she'd actually bumped into her and made her fall to the ground 'accidentally'.

Her mind returned to Tom who was lying on the bed in front of her. He was looking at her with this look in his eyes. For once the intenseness had basically disappeared and had been replaced with something that Summer suspected, and hoped, was love.

There was a knock on the door and Tom's mum came in hesitantly. Summer got up and gave Tom an extra squeeze before letting go and leaving. Tom's mum gave her a thankful smile as Summer passed her and Summer smiled back. They might have only one thing in common but that one thing was a huge portion of each of their lives. And that was Tom.

Summer had seen the worry and concern in Tom's mum's eyes and could only imagine what was happening or what would happen. His mum looked as if she was taking in everything for the first and last time. Which didn't make any sense either way. Unless...

No he couldn't be. His mum was getting hired by Marissa's and Seth's dad. At the Lighthouse. Where she'd been the night before. Marissa had managed to convince her to go even though she hadn't wanted to leave Tom's side. And then there had been that surprise proposal. That was going to be very screwed and was sick in an obvious way.

But Summer didn't say anything. Tom had taught her something, people who are going through hell didn't need it pointed it out to them. The truth needed to be told but there are times when it's better not to tell it to the person. This was one of them. So she just kept her mouth shut, comforted Marissa and tried to offer her some advice.

Summer was sitting on a chair outside Tom's room and studied her nails. She really needed a manicure. Lately she hadn't had any time at all to do anything for herself. With everything going on, especially now, she felt almost guilty to go and do something for herself. Even now when she was sitting outside her boyfriend's room she felt guilty about just studying her nails. She should be in there, taking care of him.

As if on cue the door opened and Tom's mum came out. Summer tried to see what she looked like but her face was hidden well. Summer walked back into the room through the door that Tom's mum had left open in her rush to leave.

Something really important had happened, Summer knew it. She had seen it in Tom's mum's eyes and could tell by the aura that she was letting off. Summer saw Tom lying there so forlorn and she then knew that this was definitely not a good really important something.

"Are you okay?" Summer asked, she was so sincere that she thought that her heart would burst from the sincerity. Tom looked up to see her and attempted to smile but it failed to reach his blue eyes. The electricity in them had disappeared and this worried Summer. For the first time she saw true sadness portrayed in those, no longer electric, blue eyes. He dropped his eyes and said,

"My mum just came in here to tell me that the Lighthouse was refused a liquor licence and she can't find another good paying job around here for a person with a psychology degree."

"Why can't you-?" Summer began to ask but Tom cut her off and said in a choked voice,

"We don't have any money left. We're staying in a townhouse of my grandfather's from my father's side. And they have tenants who are on hold to move in. We've already intruded on 2 weeks of their lease agreement. And my dad's off in New York doing I don't know what." He glanced up at her and said,

"My parents are divorced." Summer took Tom's hand in hers and made him look her in the eyes,

"So are mine." Tom smiled for a second before it died back down.

"We don't have anywhere near enough money to buy, or even rent, a house."

"So what are you saying?" Summer asked but she had a feeling she knew what he was saying. She just needed him to say it himself.

"I have to move back to Australia."

(Poor Tommy boy… But remember he still has prom coming up… He has to go there, whether or not he leaves afterwards is something yet to be decided. Review to tell me what to do!)


	10. History Class II

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.

Chapter 10: History Class II

Summer was sitting down in History class. No matter what she couldn't get Tom's words out of her head. 'We have to move back to Australia.' It was definitely stuck deep into her mind. What happened after he'd dropped the bomb was them sitting there uncomfortably until they managed to strike up a clumsy conversation about something that Summer couldn't even remember.

Summer longed to throw herself at him sitting in the bed and just kiss him and try to forget about it all. But it was impossible. She knew that she couldn't do it. They were both too sad to make out. Or do anything else. Anything but sit there and be sad. Fun.

She knew that Tom wouldn't have wanted for this to happen. Not for her to be so bereft. So sad. So deserted. So dejected. So disconsolate. So melancholy. So gloomy. So miserable. So depressed. So despondent. So isolated. So empty. And so on.

"Where's your partner?" The teacher was standing over Summer and looking down at her through her glasses. Summer looked up at her with a hostile expression.

"He's in hospital. He got shot three times by your friend Sarah." The teacher hesitated before pushing her glasses up her nose and leaving to move onto the next table. The whole class stared at her but she managed to ignore them. Just. Ignoring a group of thirty people staring at you accusingly is quite hard.

Summer wrapped her arms around herself and felt as if she was going to burst if she didn't see Tom soon. She just wanted to have someone wrap their arms around her and for her to wrap her arms around him. To feel his lips against her own. To feel that safe feeling that she always got with Tom. That feeling that no one could touch her. That she was protected and loved. And safe.

She felt tears threaten and blinked them back. She could feel the emptiness in her. An emptiness that made her feel as if she was missing a body part. It was almost impossible to describe. Just as if she was missing something. She felt so lonely sometimes. As if something had been carved out from her.

"Summer?" Summer just realised that Seth had just sat next to her.

"What is it Cohen?" Seth looked at her with worry on his face.

"Are you okay? You look as if someone died."

"Well someone almost died didn't they Cohen!" Seth drew back, shocked by the outburst and replied,

"Yeah, they did. And I know that. I know this must be hard for you..."

"You have no idea. I was right there as it happened. I could have stopped it but I didn't, I didn't because I'm a coward."

"You're not. How do you think you stopped him from getting shot more times? You tackled her. It's just like you Summer. Radical." Summer couldn't help but smile a little. She looked up at Seth and asked,

"Radical?" Seth nodded and confirmed it,

"Radical."

"Thanks." Summer smiled by twitching the ends of her mouth up.

"Hey, it's okay Summer." Seth said and smiled. Anna came over and both Seth and Summer greeted her,

"Hey Anna." Seth greeted Anna with a smile.

"Hey." Summer said and greeted Anna with a faint smile. Something that had to be well deserved in Summer's current state.

"Hey you guys." Anna replied and grabbed a seat to sit down.

"So I guess Seth worked his magic." Anna said and continued, "I mean, know you don't look like you're ready to jump off a cliff." Summer gave Anna a look and Anna shrugged.

"Do you miss him?" Anna asked and Summer nodded.

"But you've only…" Seth began but Anna stopped him with a look. Seth made an unknowing face by knotting his eyebrows together and then looked from one of the girls to the other and then said,

"Okay, uh, I'm going to go now." With that Seth got up and left the two girls to talk about what only they knew and understood.

"How are you faring?" Anna asked.

"You've changed." Summer seemed to scrutinize Anna and Anna shrugged non-committal.

"Yeah, things happened while I wasn't here. You've changed too." Summer looked at Anna and decided to let it go.

"Tom does that to you." Anna nodded, agreeing completely. Summer then continued to answer Anna's previous question,

"I'm okay. Well, not okay but you know, I'm coping." Anna nodded, she seemed to know that this was the best outcome that could possibly be accepted.

"He'll be alright. He's a survivor. He'll be up and walking around in no time at all."

"It's been two months." Summer said quietly.

"And you've been moping around for two months. This is your first week back at school and everyone knows how much you've changed." Anna sighed and then said, "He was shot in three places, it's expected that it'll be a while before he can do a merry jig. But I'm sure he'll be up for Prom tomorrow night." Anna looked unsure, well a little more than unsure, but Summer would take any reassurance that she could get.

"You know the one thing that I want most in the entire world is for him to walk through that door." Summer said and turned and nodded towards the classroom door. She turned back to Anna and continued on, "I mean, that would be such an amazingly miraculous thing that I would do anything for that to happen. Anything."

"You won't have to." Anna said with her eyes fixed on the doorway.

"What?" Summer had a feeling that she knew but she had to make sure. She had to ensure that it was what she thought it was before she got her hopes up higher than she already had. Which was almost impossible but it was the principle. Anna glanced back at Summer and elaborated,

"You won't have to give up anything." Summer cocked her head,

"Anna?" Anna remained speechless and just chose to nod at the door. Summer turned around with the hope brimming in her eyes and saw what she had wished for standing in the doorway. Tom.

He was leaning heavily on crutches and with every breath he was racked pain. But he was standing there nevertheless.

Summer stood up and ran over to him and ran into his arms. He winced and quietly said 'oof' but he let go of his crutches to hug her back. Summer felt the emptiness inside her fill up. She enjoyed the smell of Lynx on him that mixed with his own personal smell. His strong safe arms that enveloped her.

"I've missed you." Summer said, although what she really wanted to say was 'love' but she just couldn't get it out. She buried her face in Tom's right shoulder. Then she felt his response vibrate his chest,

"I've missed you too." He kissed the crown of her head and she wished that she could just say it. Just say how much she loved him when he wasn't unconscious.

(Sorry this chapter was so short. I just really wanted to move on from the sad stuff and get the whole Tom appearing in the doorway thing over and done with. Pretty sweet stuff. Oh yah, the hug at the end would've probably killed him with pain but I just had to put that. They're more personal than kisses in some ways, more body contact and sweeter.)


	11. The Day Before

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina.

Chapter 11: The Day Before

"You right for tomorrow?" Summer turned around and faced the random guy who had dared to interrupt her conversation with Tom to ask this stupid question. She saw a dread-knot haired Goth-looking guy who was well known as the best drummer in the entire school. She gave him a look and (not very) surprisingly he didn't back off like guys usually did. He just made a face at her and then returned his gaze to Tom who was sitting on the wall.

Tom nodded and said,

"Yeah man, course. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Summer practically bared her teeth at the guy and he walked off in search of his Goth band friends.

"Isn't prom on tomorrow?" Summer asked as she turned back to Tom.

"Yeah," Tom nodded, "Just something I gotta do. Don't worry, I'll be at prom. With you." Summer smiled and asked,

"So what do you have to do with a drummer?" Tom shrugged.

"Just stuff." He answered in a cryptic manner. Summer cocked her head slightly but decided to drop the subject. She wasn't getting any more juice from that particular orange. Her mind wandered to other subjects. Such as what she was going to wear. She was planning on wearing this black dress she bought a week ago and… Wait a minute… Oh no…

"What are you going to wear?" Tom smiled at Summer knowing that he was taunting her by drawing his answer out. He sat there and put on a thinking face. She rolled her eyes and said,

"_Today_, Chase." Tom grinned mischievously and replied,

"Well I was wondering if I could turn up in boardies and thongs..." Summer hit him in the stomach softly and he winced at the ripple effect that travelled to the other side where his wound was, on its way to healing but still, hurt.

"Okay, okay. I'm going to go pick up my suit this after noon."

"You better." Summer fixed him with a stare and her pointer finger. Tom raised his hands in surrender and said,

"I will, I will."

"Come here." Summer opened her arms and moved to Tom and wrapped them around him. She talked to him as if she'd just scolded him but wanted to take it back now.

"You know I like you lot, but if you don't have your suit by tomorrow I will gladly eat you body part by body part in front of you while you look on in terrible pain." Tom's eyes widened and Summer then broke off the hug and looked at him with a peaceful expression on her face, she wasn't getting bothered by this in the least. It was as if she threatened people daily with similar threats.

Tom just smiled, unsure. Summer smiled brightly back at him and then turned to her purse and got out a wad of papers. She handed them to him and he stared at the pile of papers sitting on his lap. He began leafing through them and discovered that they were worksheets.

"This is the work you missed when you were away." Summer said regarding the sheets. Half of them contained stuff that Tom had no idea what they were about. He looked up at her and then back down to the sheets. Then back up at her and down to the sheets.

"I'm meant to finish all of this?" Tom asked in an incredulous voice. Summer nodded and then said,

"What were you expecting? That we hadn't done any work at all? You were away for a whole two months you know." Tom sighed and replied,

"I know. I guess I'm getting what I deserve. Except that I got SHOT. You reckon they would let you off work if you get shot three times. Nah, I guess you're school's even more uptight than mine."

"Hey! My school is cool, they may be uptight but this is a preparatory school! After all, this is Harbour! We have a standard to uphold!"

"You sound like my principal from my old school. A whole 201 days you must come! Not a day less or your education will be completely ruined! But I think getting shot three times would let me slip through the cracks. Or maybe not." Tom scratched his chin in contemplation and, as this drew Summer's attention to his chin, Summer walked in closer to his chin to inspect what she suspected was…

"Stubble!" Summer shrieked. Tom stopped scratching and looked at her,

"Stubble?" Tom asked with a slight turn of his head.

"You have chin stubble!" Summer yelled at him and Tom quickly clapped his hand over his chin completely.

"Uh, no I don't." Tom said innocently.

"Nice try," Summer said, "But I saw it. You have chin stubble!" She was back to yelling.

"You can't have chin stubble at prom!" Summer yelled. Tom then got quite defensive of his chin stubble.

"Why not? I want chin stubble! Justin Timberlake gets chin stubble, why can't I have it? You know, as something to make me look rugged or something. Or fashionable." Summer shook her head and retorted,

"Long hair doesn't go with chin stubble." Tom then went quiet and said something that Summer didn't catch,

"What?" Summer asked in a less than lady-like fashion.

"I'm going to get my hair cut as well this afternoon." Summer's jaw dropped. She knew that his hair meant something to him, something that he'd grown for a long time and had taken really good care of. For him to be cutting his hair he must be really sacrificing something.

"You don't need to." Summer said. Tom shook his head and said,

"Nah, I need the past to be swept away." Summer knew he was talking about Sarah. Then, to lighten the situation Tom asked, like a little child begging for candy,

"So can I have stubble now?" Summer nodded wordlessly. It was prom but then Tom would look good if his hair was spiky and he had stubble. She couldn't argue with the fashion or how good she was picturing it to be.

Summer pulled Tom into another hug and said,

"That's so going to look like you." When they stopped Tom looked puzzled but kept his mouth shut. He didn't get Summer's logic sometimes but knew not to dispute it. He really needed to forget about the past and move on. Sarah had proved that there was going to be no looking back or the results could be fatal.

Tom then pulled Summer into a kiss and when that finished he said,

"Thankyou."

(Hm, well there we have it. The eleventh chapter of this. Only two or three chapters left in this story and the only thing I can tell you is that the next is prom. If I tell you too far ahead it'll wreck it. So let's leave you wondering and reading on. And reviewing of course!)


	12. Getting There Isn't Half The Fun

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina and Sarah and Rachel, the history teacher.

Chapter 12: Getting There isn't Half the Fun

Tom pressed the doorbell of the huge house that was in front of him. Its hugeness scared him. The door began to open and he ran his hand through his hair one last time. Good, it still looked like it did in the car. He smoothed out the non existent wrinkles in his black pants and marvelled at the fact that he could walk without those annoying crutches. It was hell getting up the stairs with them.

When he looked up he saw a stern looking man at the door. Summer's dad.

"Good evening Mr Roberts. How are you?"

"You're not Seth. So who are you?" Tom was a little surprised at the question.

"Uh, I'm Tom sir. I moved two months ago from Australia. I was the person who got shot a month ago." Tom knew that the whole incident had been plastered all over the news so that should ring a bell in the mind of a man who lives for the news.

"Ah yes, the teenager who was shot by his ex girlfriend. Summer saved you didn't she?" Tom nodded and said,

"Yes sir, that she did."

"So you're taking Summer to the prom." Tom nodded again and said,

"Yes sir I am." Summer's father looked him up and down and then shut the door in Tom's face. Tom's eyes widened slightly and then he waited for the door to open and for Summer's dad to say it was a joke but after ten minutes Tom decided that that was never going to happen.

Tom looked around and saw the driveway was one of those pebble ones that were really annoying to Tom. He grabbed a few of the smaller pebbles and walked to the side of the house and tried to see through the second storey windows from the ground but he could only see the ceilings. He walked around the house till he had seen all of them and decided that the one with the pink ceilings was the one which was most probably Summer's room. She didn't exactly seem like a black, dark green or dark blue kind of girl.

He walked over to the pink-ceiling room and started throwing pebbles at the window. Soft enough so they wouldn't break it but hard enough so they would be able to be heard. The window opened and Summer stuck her head out and looked around.

"Summer." Tom said in a loud whisper from cupped hands. Summer continued to look around at eye level and was about to go back inside, since she couldn't see anything, when Tom decided to take his chances and yell a bit louder.

"Summer." Summer was still left peering out, completely clueless as to the whereabouts of the person saying her name. This time Tom took the chance of yelling.

"Summer!" This time Summer saw Tom as she looked down and waved. Then she decided that seeing him on the ground and not at the door she asked,

"What is it?"

"Your dad locked me out." Summer sighed in frustration and then said,

"I'll be right down." She then closed the windows and Tom walked back out to the front door. He brushed off his pants and his hands and quickly ran his hand through his hair before looking up as the door opened and Summer walked out.

She looked stunning in a black dress that had a very low back and the front wrapped around her neck and continued to be split for quite a long way down. Oh god, he was going to have trouble keeping her to himself. Maybe he shouldn't do what he'd planned… No, now more than ever he knew how much he loved her and he had to do this. For her.

"You look amazing, beautiful and absolutely stunning all rolled into one." Tom said to Summer and she smiled brightly under the compliments.

"Well you look totally hot with your new haircut." Summer replied and Tom's hand went up to his hair before smiling as brightly as Summer.

"Thanks." His hair was spiked up and only about an inch long now. His stubble was more obvious now and went all along his jaw line. He continued,

"I was going for a Daniel MacPherson look. Not that you know who he is or anything…" Summer said,

"Well I do now." Tom smiled at her response and then held his arm out for her to put her arm in his. He guided her down the steps to the limousine that was waiting with a quiet purr for the two teenagers. He opened the door for Summer and she thanked him as she climbed in and he got in after her.

He tapped on the window that separated them from the driver and the driver began to drive to the school prom. As he collapsed into the leather seats he sighed and said,

"Getting there is not half the fun." Summer shrugged and said as she relaxed and let herself get sucked into the leather,

"It was for me."

-------

The car stopped and the window separating the driver and two riders slid down and the driver said,

"We're here. Have a good prom you two."

"Thankyou Jacob." Tom leaned across Summer and was about to open the door when Jacob cleared his throat and asked,

"Do you want me to say anything to your father, sir?" Tom hung his head and said,

"No Jacob, absolutely nothing at all." Tom then leaned across Summer again and opened the door. Summer got out despite her want to stay and find out more about the father that Tom never spoke of. Besides saying that he'd given Tom the BMW and even that had been extremely little information. Tom refused to say any more about his invisible father.

Summer was met with a chilly wind and she shivered slightly as she stood in the icy air waiting for Tom to get out of the limo. Tom got out and closed the door. He breathed out and then patted the roof of the car which drove off. He turned to see Summer shivering in the skimpy dress she'd chosen to wear without a jacket or shawl. Without hesitating Tom took of his own jacket and wrapped it around Summer's shoulders.

"How did you afford a limo?" Summer asked as Tom fussed around with the jacket that wouldn't listen to him. Tom sighed and replied,

"I didn't, my dad decided that I could borrow his for the prom." Something flickered through Tom's eyes but quickly disappeared to be replaced by a smile on his lips and in his eyes.

Summer smiled up at him as he made sure that the jacket was tight enough to keep in some heat. Tom then offered his arm to her, as if the moment before had never happened and he was back to being the 'perfect gentleman'. Summer smiled and looped her arm through his offered one and they made their way to the hall where the prom was being held.

As Summer stood in the doorway of the previous school hall she felt her breath catch in her throat.

(This is how my school's yr 10 formal was decorated, formal is like US prom.)

The hall was decorated with several pieces of dark purple velvet cloth that hung from one point from each of the sides as well as in all of the corners. All of these strips met in the centre of the roof where a large, currently immobile, disco ball was hanging. Velvet also was hung on all of the walls and at each place it was hanging a gold bow appeared to hold it onto the wall.

The stage curtain, red velvet, was now drawn but Summer had a feeling that when it was going to open it would reveal something else that would make this night just as she'd dreamed about for as long as she could remember.

In front of them there were at least fifteen large tables that could seat at least ten people each. There were silver settings at each seat and purple, but not velvet, serviettes at each of the silver plates. A large bouquet of flowers were the centrepieces of each table.

As she looked to the side of her and saw Tom standing there looking at the stage with his face almost glowing. She knew that her partner was also who she'd always dreamt of as her date to the prom. He wasn't exactly a rock star but he sure looked like one at the moment.

As she turned back to the hall Tom turned his head to look at Summer. She was his definition of perfect. On top of the fact that she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, she was also incredibly generous and even a bit wise, despite her exterior. Besides the fact that he owed her his life. If she hadn't stopped Sarah… Well Sarah would've probably shot every one of his body parts until he bled to death. He swallowed the love that he felt rising from his stomach. Tom then turned back to the hall and said,

"So. Shall we?" Summer swallowed and said,

"Sure. Let's go win King and Queen, Chase." Tom smiled and they both walked into the hall and both of them actually hoped that they could at least get through the night without the drama that Newport is so famous for.


	13. The Song of Summer

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina and Sarah and Rachel, the history teacher. I don't own any of the following songs in this chapter either.

Chapter 13: The Song of Summer

Summer sighed. She was sitting down at one of the elaborately decorated tables. Alone. Tom had gone off muttering that he had to go to the toilet. Across from her Seth and Anna were playing a game of tonsil hockey that had lasted for ten minutes and counting.

A chord resonated through the entire hall via the speakers randomly scattered around the ceiling of the hall. Damnit, Summer thought. The band was starting and she and Tom were going to miss the first song. How could he? Did he have diahorrea or something? Even that was not a valid excuse. Nothing was a valid excuse.

She looked intently at the stage and saw the curtains draw back to reveal… the band. She recognised the drummer guy, some other random guys. One was on a synth, one was on a bass, one on an electric guitar, one was on a key board and as her eyes finally swept over the lead guitarist / singer she saw… Tom. Tom Chase. Her Tom Chase. With his electric blue (just like his eyes) electric guitar hanging around his neck and a matching blue plastic pick in his hand.

Tom grabbed the mike and looked around the hall before beginning,

"Hello Newport!" He bellowed into the mike and was responded with a massive amount of sound from the audience.

"Alright, I'd just like to say that this first song is something that really reminds me of this place. For more than the obvious reason." He let go of the mike and turned to the rest of the band. He looked at the keyboardist and nodded three times before they started and the people up the front heard his quiet 'One, two, three.' They then started the song which Tom had handpicked for them.

As the band played the first line of the melody and everyone started to cheer. Everyone recognised it as the first line of the melody of California by Phantom Planet. Now it was obvious why he'd said it reminded him of Newport. California!

"We've been on the run,  
Driving in the sun,  
Looking out for number one,  
California here we come,  
Right back where we started from.

Hustlers grab your guns,  
Your shadow weighs a ton,   
Driving down the one-oh-one,  
California here we come,  
Right back where we started from.

California,  
Here we come.

On the stereo,  
Listen as we go,  
Nothing's gonna stop me now,   
California here we come,  
Right back where we started from,   
Pedal to the floor,  
Thinkin' of the roar,  
Gotta get us to the show,  
California here we come,  
Right back where we started from,

California,  
Here we come.

California,   
California,  
Here we come.

(RIFF)

California,   
California,  
Here we come.

California,  
California,   
Here we come.

California,  
California,  
Here we come.

California,  
California,  
Here we come."

The last chords faded out and everyone cheered again. Tom beamed at the crowd of people in front of him that he had somehow managed to get to know in two months. He made a 'devil' sign with both of his hands and stuck his tongue out. Something that he'd gotten from Kiss but hey, his father had loved it when he was living with he and his mum and it had somehow gotten programmed into Tom's system. Like father, like son.

"This next one's for Summer." Tom pointed to Summer who had, by now, made her way to the front of the dance floor and was looking up at Tom with an expression on her face that Tom hoped he had read right. What he'd read it as was…

"What is it?" A rowdy, probably drunk, member of the audience yelled out. Tom broke eye contact with Summer and continued,

"A song written… well compiled by me. It's got tons of random songs in it. Well just about six… I'll just get on with it, shall I?" Tom turned to the rest of the band for the second time and began the song.

(This is a mixture of some of the songs from The OC Mix 1. This is all live remember.)

"Life it's ever so strange,

It's so full of change,

You think that you've worked it out,

Then bang,

Right out of the blue,

Something happens to you,

To throw you off course,

Like me meeting you." Tom points to Summer again and then the synth person did the screech of a vinyl being stopped and the song changed. (It changes to selective parts of 'Honey and the Moon' by Joseph Arthur if you were wondering. Just then it was the start of 'Just a Ride' by Jem.)

"Don't know why I'm still afraid,

If you weren't real I'd make you up,

Now.

I know that I could follow through,

I know that your love is true and deep,

As the sea…

(Just saying that there is a bit that is omitted, this is meant by me. Oh and any bits that have different words are meant by me.)

I wish I could follow you,

To the shores,

Of freedom,

Where no one lives.

I remember we first met,

Everything was still a part in,

Love's game.

You would call,

I'd call you back,

And leave a message on your answering machine..

I wish I could follow you,

To the shores,

Of freedom,

Where no one lives.

You're the honey and the moon,

That lights up my life…

(Fades out and changes to start of 'Caught By the River' by The Doves.)

Sum(mer), what have you done,

Caught by the river,

You're going under,

Love it can't be so easy,

But you can't just leave it,

Because you're not in control…

(Vinyl screech. Chorus of 'We Used To Be Friends' by The Dandy Warhols.)

Come on now honey,

Bring it on, Bring it on, Yeah,

Just learn to be friends,

You're good to go.

Come on now sugar,

Bring it on, Bring it on, Yeah,

Just learn to be friends…

(Fade out to (parts of) 'Dice' by Finley Quaye and William Orbit. NB: means that the it's the background singers who sing it.)

I was crying over you,

I am smiling I think of you…

Nothing's getting better

Til when you roll the dice and swear your love for me,

Nothing's getting better

Til when you roll the dice and swear your love for me.

I was crying over you,

I am smiling I think of you…

(Fade into 'Orange Sky' by Alexi Murdoch. Chords in beginning, etc.)

Well I had a dream I,

Stood beneath an Orange Sky,

Yes I had a dream I,

Stood beneath an Orange Sky,

With you, Summer standing by,

With you, Summer standing by.

(skip some stuff)

I said,

'Summer,

Here is what I know now,

Here is what I know now,

In your love,

My salvation lies in your love,

My salvation lies in your love,

My salvation lies in your love,

In your love,

In your love,

In your love.'

Summer, you know I'm so weary,

And you know Summer my heart's been broken

Sometime's my mind is too strong,

To carry on.

To strong to carry on.

When I am alone,

When I've thrown off the weight of this crazy world,

When I've lost all care for the things I own,

That's when I miss you,

That's when I miss you,

That's when I miss you,

You are my home.

You are my home.

And here is what I know now,

Here is what I know now,

In your love,

My salvation lies in your love,

My salvation lies in your love,

My salvation lies in your love,

My salvation lies in your love,

My salvation lies in your love,

My salvation lies in your love,

My salvation lies in your love,

In your love,

In your love,

In your love.

Well I had a dream I,

Stood beneath an Orange Sky,

Yes I had a dream I,

Stood beneath an Orange Sky,

With you, Summer, standing by.

With you, Summer, standing by…"

Tom closed his eyes as the last song ended. He then looked down at Summer and saw the tears brimming in her eyes. He smiled crookedly at her and said to the audience full of girls with eyes brimming with tears and guys who had their arms around those girls and were thanking Tom silently. He looked at the band and the drummer gave him a thumbs up and the rest of them smiled at him, what they'd done was the most perfect they'd ever done it.

He took off his guitar and jumped off the stage to land next to Summer. Every eye was on him as he stood there with Summer and the girls leaned a little further to hear what he was going to say to Summer.

"Hey Summer." Tom smiled at her.

"Chase." Summer said with an even bigger smile on her face. Tom looked away for a bit before looking back at her and offering a hand. Summer looked at it and then back at him with a slightly questioning look on her face.

"Dance?" Summer laughed slightly and then said, after Tom's blank expression,

"There's no music." Tom smiled gently and then lifted his hand and clicked. The band then started a slow song and Tom looked at her questioningly. Summer smiled and took his hand. He put his other hand on Summer's hip and drew the hand that contained her to his chest where he held it. All of the other girl's sighs were audible but both of them ignored it.

"Did you mean it?" Summer asked after a few seconds of enjoying her closeness to Tom.

"Mean what?" Tom asked quietly.

"That your salvation lies in my love." Summer replied.

"Yeah." Tom said so quietly that Summer almost didn't hear him. To this Summer didn't reply but just rested the her head sideways on his chest and continued to 'dance' (meaning that they were barely moving their feet and they just _look_ like they're dancing.)

(Well that was chapter 13 of Prom Queen by P3…Don't worry it's not the end. End's yet to come and believe me there's a lot of drama up ahead. Working on a story in about Tom's life _before_ the OC. His life in Australia and what happened with Sarah and a girl called Louise who helped him get back on his feet. That'll be up at the end of this story.)


	14. And The Prom Queen Is

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina and Sarah and Rachel, the history teacher.

Chapter 14: And The Prom Queen Is…

"Welcome to the 2004 prom." Everyone, most sitting at the tables now, turned to the stage where the Dr Kim stood. Everyone clapped politely and Dr Kim continued,

"I hope you've all been enjoying yourselves," She paused, as if expecting the clapping and whooping that had happened whenever another student said that. She continued, "Well, we're now going to announce the prom king and queen and then they're going to have their dance." This actually did cost a murmur among the students and Dr Kim looked almost happy at this.

Another teacher walked onto the stage with an envelope and handed it to Dr Kim. It was the Harbour Prep version of the Emmy's or Golden Globe's or something like that. Dr Kim opened the envelope and said into the envelope with an upbeat tone,

"And without further ado the Prom King is Tom Chase and the Prom Queen is… Sarah Cullum?!?" Dr Kim looked around in shock, there was no Sarah Cullum in the entire school. And didn't Summer Roberts come with Tom Chase?? Seth and Anna actually stopped making out at this and, although Marissa and Ryan were no where to be found, they probably would stop what they were probably doing at this point in time (Ahem).

Summer felt Tom stiffen beside her and suddenly felt the bottom of her stomach fall out. No, it couldn't…. It couldn't possibly…. No freaking way…. It couldn't be the Sarah that shot him a month ago… That meant that… It meant that she was somewhere here. Just as this thought crossed Summer's mind the lights went out and one single spotlight lit up.

Everyone turned to see a blonde, beautiful, long legged, skimpily dressed girl standing in the hall doorway. In other words, Sarah Cullum. Tom stood up and Summer followed suit. The spotlight followed Sarah as she walked down the middle aisle until she reached Tom.

She wrapped her hands around his neck and said,

"So how about that first dance?" Tom looked down at her and then calmly unwrapped her hands from his neck and gave them back to her. Sarah looked at him with a slight confusion on her face.

"No thanks Sarah. Don't look so shocked, it isn't the first time that I've rejected you." There were several howls from the guys in the crowd. Apparently someone had hooked up a mike so that everyone could hear every word of the conversation. Sarah narrowed her eyes and said,

"If it wasn't for me you…"

"Wouldn't have gotten shot three times?" Tom interrupted calmly. And Sarah stared at him, a sudden anger flared up in her eyes but Tom didn't react.

"Look what Brett did to you. He turned you into a tempered criminal."

"And what would you have done? Turned me into a caring woman who would've only had to deal with half of the load of work. The woman who would be happy and could have a career if she wanted to. Be able to look forward to coming home everyday and know that I'm loved every single day of my life." Tom nodded and then said,

"I guess you like having the opposite of that. Being bashed everyday and not looking forward to going out with him, having to take care of everything, being tied down to the home and children in the future, not knowing that you're loved. Being abused everyday instead of being told that you're loved. Wow, you're different from every other girl that I know." Sarah's lip curled as she heard the murmurs around her.

"I only know what I'm taught." Sarah shot back at Tom and there were a few quiet 'oohs'.

"What you were taught was by Brett, not me."

"You think I don't know that." Sarah started to cry fake tears and leaned onto Tom's chest.

"I thought that you never cry over a guy. You told me, remember?" Sarah pulled away and said coldly,

"Well you don't miss a thing do you?"

"You taught me not to." Tom replied, equally as coldly.

"So I did." Sarah said as she remembered exactly what had happened for Tom to act so coldly. Usually he was actually quite friendly, no matter who to.

"Excuse me, you two. I was just wondering if you could pause your rendezvous for just a second." Summer started to move in between the two taller-than-her people. Sarah looked down at her before reaching into her purse and pulling out the same revolver that she'd used before. There were several screams that rippled throughout the audience and a surge to the door until Sarah yelled out.

"ANYONE WHO MOVES GETS SHOT!!" Everything froze and the cicadas took over the job of creating the loudest audible noise.

"Calm down Sarah." Tom was the first to speak and Sarah turned to him with her revolver and put it in his face. Tom practically laughed.

"You think I'm still afraid of that gun? You've already shot me three times with it. If you asked me I would say that you're a tad too jumpy with guns. Shooting people for no reason." Sarah's jaw tightened, as if she could seriously picture shooting him in the head right now. And he wasn't exactly making it better for himself. Quite the opposite.

"Oh, by the way, Pete Murray reckons that you're 'So Beautiful' (It's an Australian song look up the lyrics)." Sarah looked at him for a second before making a face throwing back,

"Well I've just had a 'Mistaken Identity'. Delta Goodrem reckons that and I'm not one to argue, as you know." Tom made an 'understanding face'. During this little exchange Summer recognised Pete Murray's name extremely faintly, some singer or something. At Delta's name she definitely recognised her name. She'd had this thing for Australia secretly last year and actually owned Delta's old album and a downloaded version of 'Mistaken Identity'. 'So Beautiful' rang a bell but she couldn't remember what it was quite about, apart from the obvious.

"You can put that down now," Tom pointed to the gun, "Not exactly doing any help in scaring me."

Sarah stared at him and realised that he was speaking the truth and her pointing a gun at him wasn't going to do anything, other than freak out other people. Sarah then suddenly moved the gun to be pointing in Summer's face and said,

"No, you aren't scared of the gun for yourself but are you afraid for your girlfriend Tom?" Tom finally reacted and his eyes widened with fear. Fear for Summer. Fear for Summer's life. She didn't deserve to be dragged into this. Sarah had no right to drag Summer into something that was their problem. And that was what he was going to tell her.

"Don't do this Sarah. Summer doesn't deserve to be dragged into this, she didn't do anything to deserve it. And you have no right to do this. To threaten someone else's life especially since she didn't do anything to you." Sarah then dropped the gun and said,

"No, of course not. Louise did. So maybe I should go back to Australia and shoot her. Hm? What do you think Summer?" Sarah turned to Summer and asked her. Summer shrugged, she didn't even know who Louise was in the first place.

"Oh, of course you don't know about Louise. Well you see, after Tom dumped me for loving someone else…"

"You were having sex at my birthday party." Tom interrupted in an annoyed tone. Sarah cleared her throat and then continued,

"Well anyway, he went to some loner slut and probably had sex with her and dumped her right before he moved here…" Tom interrupted her again but this time it was more looking back than angry.

"You were the loner slut, Louise was the girl who was not included because she wasn't a slut and was a virgin. We never had sex and were only together for one real date, that one date was perfect but I had to move. So I moved on, we both did."

"You sure about that?" Sarah asked with a smug expression on her face. Tom opened his mouth to make a smart remark but then closed it. Sarah was only smug when she had the upper hand and she knew it. So how could she have the upper hand in this situation? No, she couldn't have… She didn't. It was just her pretending to know something he didn't.

"Yeah Sarah. I am sure." Sarah didn't expect this but, after a second to get over it, clapped her hands.

"Go Tom, finally not reading into stuff too much. You used to think so much but I guess you're over it." Tom didn't respond and just stood there. Sarah then raised the gun and motioned for Summer to move away with her gun hand. Summer looked at Tom and then did what she asked.

"Well, now that we have no annoying girl to bother us we can finally get all comfortable together." Sarah took a step towards Tom but Tom didn't look at her, but stared straight ahead as he replied,

"As long as Summer doesn't get hurt I don't care what you do to me."

"How gallant." Sarah said sarcastically, "What if I were to do this?" Sarah raised the gun to aim at Summer again and pulled back the safety hammer. In an instant Tom was at Summer side. Then he was standing in front of her. Sarah looked at him.

"Well, you've chosen your path. Let me tell you it isn't a very long one at all. I'd say at the most ten minutes of torture as your stomach acid eats you alive. That is since I am aiming for your stomach. It's a hell of a lot more painful." Tom stood there, struggling with his hands behind his back to keep Summer behind him. Sarah looked at him for a second with sadness in her eyes,

"Well, since you've chosen this path I guess mine is chosen too." Sarah then shot him. Sarah looked around at the people rushing to Tom's aid and then took the gun and placed it under her head. She then squeezed the trigger and in a split second the bullet penetrated the roof of her mouth and into her brain. Death was instantaneous, Tom wasn't so lucky.

(Going to stop it there. Goodbyes are in the next chapter and there's two more chapters after that. I think that should be about right. This is a sad time. Let us be sad and not be happy. If anyone out there is happy I know where you live!)


	15. Last Minutes

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina and Sarah and Rachel, the history teacher.

Chapter 15: Last Minutes

"Oh my god, oh my god." Summer repeated as she knelt over Tom who was now lying on the floor. There was a ring of people around them, wanting to comfort her but not knowing what to say. A ring of people wanting to help him but not knowing what to do.

"What I wouldn't do for a shot of morphine." Tom said. Summer strained to smile through her tears and leaned down and kissed him on the forehead. When she went back up she saw a big smile on Tom's face.

"I reckon that's about as good as morphine." Summer didn't have to strain the smile this time. She put a hand on the side of his face and he pushed his face into her hand in a motion that reminded her of a dog.

"Thankyou Summer." Tom returned his head to normal and Summer tilted her head as she pulled her hand away.

"For what?" Summer asked and Tom looked at her with an expression of love.

"Everything."

"You're welcome." Summer said quietly and felt a tear creep down her face uninvited. She swiped at it and Tom caught her hand and pressed it to his lips.

"Remember the soccer game?" (This is describing a chapter which I was meaning to put in but didn't get to.)

"When I was still with…" Summer trailed off and Tom continued,

"Seth." Summer nodded and then moved onto the description.

"It was a sunny day, incredibly hot. You and Anna were on the same team and Seth and I were on the other team. Anna was good and so were you. Seth just liked cracking jokes and I enjoyed digging my nails into things…"

"Moving things such as me." Tom said and Summer grinned through her tears. Reminiscing was partly taking her mind off what was happening but not fully.

"Then when you went to shoot that goal you fell…"

"Onto the closest thing…"

"Me." They both smiled at each other and Tom reached up to gently wipe away a tear from Summer's face.

"Good times."

"Yeah, they were good times."

"I hate to say this again but is it just me or is the temperature below freezing? I'm getting frostbite here." Summer felt the end of her lips twitch in the slight movement of a smile and Tom smiled.

"I thought you were meant to be in terrible pain." Summer said with a sly expression on her face and Tom's expression went serious.

"I am in terrible pain but that doesn't mean that I'm going to complain about it." Tom replied simply. To him pain wasn't anything, not when the girl that you loved was talking to you and she was so completely perfect for you that your heart was bursting. And also when she was your girlfriend it was so completely perfect and he couldn't help but use and reuse the word perfect because that was the only thing that he could use to describe what he felt. Perfect wasn't even strong enough. Nothing was strong enough for what he felt.

"Ah, well, if I was you I'd be complaining, whining and belligerent." Summer counted what she would be doing on her fingers.

"Belligerent?" Tom asked with one eyebrow raised with a mischievous grin on his face.

"I was reading a thesaurus last night." Summer said and continued, "I was too nervous to do anything else."

"Ah." Tom replied with an understanding expression on his face and an understanding tone in his voice. There was a silence and they just looked at each other with expressions of sadness and love.

"It's amazing." Summer said with a slight shake of her head.

"What's amazing?" Tom asked, puzzled. Obviously by the fact that Summer had said something so completely random. Especially with the weird body language which was screaming something weird and off.

"That we are able to talk as if nothing's happening, as if everything's okay…" Summer broke off and began to cry. Tom opened his arms and hid his wince as she leaned down and he wrapped his arms around her. But he didn't let the pain get to him. He was good at that. Sarah had taught him well.

"It's okay, it's okay. Everything will be okay, I promise." Summer broke the hug and asked,

"How can you say that everything's going to be okay? I mean you're…. you're… you're dying Tom." Summer's voice broke and she started to sob. Tom opened his arms again and Summer came into them again.

"Well it's not _okay_ okay, obviously, but it's okay. Because I know that the last thing I'll ever see is your face." Tom reached up at put his hand on Summer's face which was wet from tears. Summer put both of her hands up to hold his hand closer to her cheek. Summer dropped his hand and started to cry again and spoke in broken up speech.

"It's okay for you. But it's not okay for me. You know how hard it is the sit here with you dying on the ground?"

"No, I don't. But I know that you're strong enough to stand it." Tom said and his expression indicated that he really did believe just that.

"How?" Summer asked, half exasperated and half really sad.

"No matter what happens know that I'll always be watching over you. No matter what, you'll never be alone if you don't want to be. All you have to do is ask and I'll be with you." Summer found herself unable to say anything. She just welcomed his hand to her cheek again and cried.

"I was wondering, the first time I got shot," Tom began and Summer wondered about how he could talk about it so casually but she didn't interrupt him, "There was this really nice dream that I had. It was your voice saying that you were sorry and that you loved me. Was it real?"

Summer dropped his hand once again and blushed deeply. So he had heard her when she had said that she loved him the first time he'd gotten shot. That sounded so weird. The first time. Someone shouldn't get shot even once, nevertheless be able to refer to a certain time as 'the first time I / he / she got shot.' Then she realised that Tom had asked her a question and so nodded and replied,

"I do love you. I love you so much Tom." Tom winced slightly as he felt a fresh wave of pain hit him and adjusted himself on the floor but she could see the smile behind the pain.

"I love you too Summer." Summer smiled wider and brighter than any other smile she'd ever seen or experienced before in her life and leaned down to kiss him on the lips this time. This kiss was the most electric, it had the most energy and the most love in it than she had ever experienced before in her life. She felt something change and pulled away. Tom lay there with his eyes closed. He had closed them for the last time.

She saw a tear on his face and couldn't tell if it was hers or his. It didn't matter. She collapsed onto his body and cried harder than ever before. Harder than the previous time he'd gotten shot, harder than when her parents got divorced, harder than any single time in her whole life span. It was as if the dam had lost the wall that was stopping it from flooding the village. So now it was flooding the village. And no one would be left alive.

(Sorry that the chapter's not that long. Sad, sad ending. Two more chapters left and maybe an epilogue if I feel like it. The story about before The OC is getting worked on and it's gonna be called 'Catch Me' I think it's going to be that. Not sure. Probably going to be that but. First chapter almost done but I won't put it up until I finish this story. I'll put a link to 'Catch Me' at the end of the story.)


	16. Funeral

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina and Sarah and Rachel, the history teacher.

Chapter 16: Funeral

Summer walked into the cemetery and shivered. Half because of the wind that was sweeping what seemed like the whole of Newport and California and the world, and half because of the fact that cemeteries had a freaky effect on her. She looked up ahead of her and saw the four guys who were carrying the coffin. Seth was one of them and, surprisingly, so was Summer's dad. Despite the locking out of him. Apparently he had just hired Tom's mom and they hit it off. It was a respect thing but apparently he still didn't tell her about the whole locking-out thing.

One of the other two men was the spitting image of Tom, only the older version. Except his eyes were chestnut brown instead of electric blue. And his posture and outfit screamed wealthy business man instead of Tom's image which screamed relaxed, popular, cool guy who everyone loves. But Summer still knew that this was Tom's father. He had been the one who had paid for everything, after some argument with Tom's mom.

Summer bowed her head and just continued walking. Anna was walking beside her with her head bowed as well. Who knows what Anna was experiencing, she'd known Tom for ten years or whatever. She knew how much it hurt for her but it must've killed Anna more. The quality of the love didn't make up the time that it was felt. Even though she loved Tom so much it didn't mean that her love was more worth than Anna's. Or not. Or… She didn't know.

It seemed that Tom's ability to read into things a lot had passed onto Summer and it didn't exactly match Summer's personality. But like Anna had said, Summer had changed and reading into things fitted into this new personality. Her life was beginning to mould around reading into things too much. It was as if Tom had passed off a bit of himself onto her. Something of his, for her to remember him by. A want to separate a whole time to think about the past, present and future events. Probably while she was lying in bed before going to sleep.

The coffin came to a halt. They had come to the grave. In an orderly fashion the people behind the coffin, including Summer, chose which side to file around the grave and took it. Summer and Anna chose different sides and, when the coffin was placed on the elevator of the grave Summer's dad took his place next to Summer and Seth took his place next to Anna. It was as if the whole thing had been rehearsed, which it most certainly hadn't.

The priest began saying whatever he was saying. Summer wasn't exactly paying attention. She was going over what the last minutes had been like. What they'd talked about, what they hadn't talked about, what their expressions were. And exactly what she'd felt.

Right now she felt like crying, screaming and acting extremely violently all at once. Those rage blackouts were probably going to come back, and if they didn't then it wasn't as if Summer would actually know or anything.

She snapped out of the deep, 'meaningful' thought she'd been wrapped in. The priest was still droning on about how Tom was such a 'good and caring person'. Of course he was but it was as if the priest knew that. The priest didn't even know him so how could he be the one who was speaking at his funeral? At least Anna should be the one talking, she knew him a heck of a lot better than the stupid priest who had probably said exactly the same thing for hundreds of other people.

Finally the priest came to the end of his rantings and everyone stepped forward and paid their last respects to Tom. There were a few people that Summer didn't even know. There was one girl, she had some freckles, streaked brown hair, brown eyes and seemed like the person who was usually happy but had something terrible happen to her so she looked incredibly miserable. Like Tom dying.

This girl stepped forward and dropped a red and yellow rose into the grave. She then stepped back and let a tear fall down her face. Summer realised that everyone else had done so she stepped forward and dropped one red rose into the grave and, in her mind, said her last goodbye to Tom.

At the end of the burial Summer looked for the girl she'd seen earlier. She found her at the edge of the rest of the group of people. Summer guessed that this was Louise.

"Are you Louise?" Summer asked as she walked up behind her. Louise turned around and when she saw Summer she nodded and said,

"I guess you're Summer."

"Yeah, how did you know?" Summer asked.

"Same way you know who I am. Tom." Then Louise turned back to the view of the sunset and continued, "And Sarah. When she came back to Australia she felt the loyalty to tell me about you and Tom." Summer felt her mouth open out of shock and then she closed it after a few seconds. She shouldn't have expected anything better from Sarah, in her little time here she had proven indefinitely that she was the biggest bitch on the planet.

"I'm sorr…"

"Don't worry about it." Louise interrupted Summer and then continued, "He said he was sorry but we were over. And I moved on. You know." Louise said with a shrug that wasn't exactly believable.

"Right." Summer said, not believing it for a second. Not believing that Louise had been able to move on from the relationship that Louise and Tom had had. The one official date relationship. But even one date with Tom had you hooked. Summer knew because she'd only had one official date with him too. That on official date was the prom.

Louise then seemed to remember something and fumbled with the pocket of one of her jacket pockets. She brought out a ring and handed it to Summer. Summer took it at looked at it before looking at Louise with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Tom wanted to give it to you… It was his grandmother's, she gave it to him when she died." Louise's voice broke from the amount of emotion that made it so heavy.

"Before you went to the prom he emailed me and told me that if anything was to happen to him he wanted the ring to go to you. As a sign of his love."

"He said that?" Summer asked, feeling love flow through her veins readily.

"No, but I know that he would want you to have it."

"Oh," This was a shock to Summer and the love trickled less readily but it was there, "Well, thanks Louise." Louise smiled gently at her, nodded and left her to play with the ring in her fingers.

(Short chapter that, soorrrry. Louise is a nice girl who is based on my bestie called Mel. Only Mel isn't a loner and is quite popular. Anyway, only one more chapter and possible epilogue. The prologue will be in the form of a couple of emails from Tom to an unknown girl. But the girl becomes obvious in the end.)


	17. Tom's Room

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters or Maroon 5 or their songs (but I want to, does that count?). I only own Tom, Tina, Sarah, Louise, etc.

Chapter 17: Tom's Room

Summer stared into outer space. She was sitting on a bed. Tom's bed. She didn't even know what she was doing here anymore. Tom's mom had insisted that Summer could come over and, in some events that she couldn't remember, she ended up in Tom's room staring into outer space. Unconsciously looking at the picture of her and Tom. It was taken on the soccer day, after they had fallen on each other. Her hair was messed up and Tom's was fully all over his face and they were both grinning like idiots at the camera.

She felt another tear, one of the many she'd been crying lately. As she remembered that day and as it lead to her remembering the Last Minutes. She didn't know why but she always thought of the Last Minutes as being in capitals. Because those two words meant something to her. Those two words led to her tears and her remembering what had happened.

She walked over to Tom's messy desk and smiled through her blurred vision as she saw the drafts for the 'Summer song' compilation. She then noticed a CD on one of the cases which bore her name. There was a note attached to it. It read:

This CD contains every song that reminds me of Summer.

Secret-Maroon 5

It seemed that after that he had no songs left that used to descried what Summer meant to him or what she looked like or their relationship or whatever.

She opened the CD player on top of the dresser and put the CD in. She pressed the play button with a slow, deliberate action. The song started slowly and she heard the soft, but somehow threatening music. 'Does he think I'm Goth or something?' Summer thought and when the words finally started she realised that wasn't it.

Watch the sunrise,

Say your goodbyes,

Off we go,

Some conversation,

No contemplation,

Hit the road.

Car overheats,

Jump out of my seat,

On the side of the highway baby,

Our road is long,

Your hold is strong,

Please don't ever let go, oh no.

I know I don't know you,

But I want you so bad,

Everyone ahs a secret,

But can they keep it?

Oh no they can't.

Driving fast now,

Don't think I know how to go slow,

Where you at now?

I feel around,

There you are.

Cool these engines,

Calm these jets,

I ask you how hot it can get,

And as you wipe off the beads of sweat,

Slowly you say 'I'm not there yet.'

I know I don't know you,

But I want you so bad,

Everyone has a secret,

But can they keep it?

Oh no they can't.

Summer listened to the rest of the song with the weird 'oh's until it faded out. Instead of pressing the 'stop' button she just let it repeat and moved back to his desk. She looked down at it and shifted one of the papers out of the way an looked at the envelope underneath it. It said, 'Summer'. Summer hesitated before picking it up and holding it at an arms length, studying it.

Eventually she opened it by sliding her finger under the flap, gently prying it open. She peered in and saw a letter. She unfolded it and couldn't help feeling as if she was getting a message from the dead person that she loved. She read it quickly, eyes skimming across the page, and then read it again, this time going slower and noticing the little things.

Dear Summer,

I don't know what I'm doing. After all I just learned your name. I'm writing this just before I'm going out to surf with Seth. I'm pretty pumped. I reckon the California waves are alright. But it's not as if I'm obsessed with waves or anything. I mean, it's not as if I wrote this meaning to write about waves. (Summer smiled at this)

I've been desperately trying to find songs that describe what I feel for you but there's only one that vaguely describes it. I've always found that there's a song to describe every situation and most feelings. But my feelings for you are this new thing that I don't think anyone's ever felt before.

Like it says in the Maroon 5 song enclosed, 'I know I don't know you bit I want you so bad'. I don't know why but it seems so weird. There was someone I left behind in Australia. I did love her, but I'm shocked at how fast I can recover. It's like in The Notebook where she recovers fast, to her surprise.

I don't know why I'm writing this, I know that you are with Seth and you two love each other. But my feelings are just so strong that I want to get it down on paper, maybe then they could cool off.

I just… I don't know. I don't know how to deal with these feelings, I don't think anyone is used to dealing with these feelings. I know you might think that I as too calm and collected to think all of these things, but that's just because I'm good at acting. Or not. I don't know.

I don't know what I'm writing or what this is meant to play a part in. My writing, that is. I mean letter. I mean… I don't know. I'm sorry that I'm sounding like this little boy who doesn't know what he's talking about. (Summer smiled again at this)

I think that I should quit while I'm ahead, or more ahead than I'll be in a couple of paragraphs.

I'll see you at school, but you won't know that I've actually said this because I probably will chicken out before giving this to you.

From,

Tom. Tom Chase.


	18. The Dream

Title: Prom Queen

Summary: A new guy comes to the OC from Australia and he's bound to rock the relationships. So who's going to end up his Prom date? Not for SethSummer lovers. Anna comes in a bit later. SummerNew Guy and a bit of SethAnna and the smallest portion of RyanMarissa.

Pairing: SummerTom, SethAnna, RyanMarissa

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the OC characters. I only own Tom and Tina and Sarah and Rachel, the history teacher.

Chapter 17: The Dream

Summer looked at the ceiling of her room. She was lying on her back at some time in the small hours of the morning. It was the morning after the funeral and she hadn't been able to sleep at all. She had finally run out of tears.

Summer then remembered something that Tom had said and said aloud, feeling a tad foolish,

"Tom I want you to be with me. Tom I want to be able to feel you touch. Tom I want to be able to see you. Tom I want to be able to feel love instead of grief. Tom I want you to be with me."

She blinked and felt herself go into an out-of-body state which had been quite normal these past few hours. She felt as if she had begun to float above where her body was and couldn't feel the bed under her or the sheets on top of her anymore. She felt her eyes become immensely heavy and decided to close them. Only for a second, only for a second, only for a second…

Summer opened her eyes as she felt the first rain drop fall on her skin. She stood up when she found that she was kneeling down on grass heavy with dew. She felt her eyelid flutter as a rain drop came perilously close to her eye. She looked up and was awarded with another raindrop near her eye which promptly caused her eyes to flutter again.

She put her head back down and, as if on cue, the rain became a torrent and an innumerable amount of rain drops hit her skin. She looked down and realised that her PJs weren't the best clothes to be in a thunderstorm in. She wrapped her arms around herself in a bid to get a vague scrap of warmth back into her body.

"Hey Summer." Summer turned around and saw Tom standing there in the rain with his hair plastered to his head and a gentle smile on his face. Summer took a second to blink and take in what was before her and then she ran to Tom and threw her arms around him and kissed him in all available places. His neck, his cheek, his forehead, his lips, his nose, even his hair wasn't safe from Summer with her ravaging kisses full of love.

Tom hugged Summer as she did this and didn't get impatient or angry with her. He understood. After all, seeing the person you love after that person has died tends to make such behaviour quite normal. Finally Summer slowed and then, a while later, she stopped. Then she just looked at him. Took in every single detail, no matter how minor or major it was. Nothing was forgotten as Summer looked at every square millimetre of him.

Finally she just collapsed into his strong arms and said,

"I missed you so much." Then, the tears came back.

"I know. I felt it." Summer looked at him with questioning eyes and Tom began to explain.

"I told you I would be watching over you Summer. And you asked for it, so I came. I told you I would. Have you ever known me to break my promise?" Summer smile didn't come and she retorted,

"Yes, you promised that everything was going to be okay. You said I would be strong enough. I'm not Tom and nothing's okay." Tom took Summer's hands in his larger ones and held them to his chest.

"Everything is going to be okay. You are strong enough. I've been watching over you and I've seen the way you've handled things. The strongest person can cry without shame, the strongest person mourns a loss and has the ability to move on, the strongest person has loved and lost and fought and won and is still standing. You have done all of these things and more. You have dealt with everything difficult or challenging that has been thrown your way and you've done it without complaining, without question and without trouble. People might not think this and that's because they treat the smallest things as the biggest things and the biggest things as the smallest things. But I don't, I see your strength, I see your potential, I see what you can do, and I see what you will do. I want you to know that I'm so proud of you, no one I've known has ever come close to you strength and your determination. And that's what I love so much about you. Your whole personality is of a heroine, of someone who is going to change the world so much by just being in it."

When Tom finished the mini speech he'd just delivered Summer felt blown away. She was expecting a long answer but his was a ten thousand word essay and one with every word being meant and she felt a warm glow envelop her. She vaguely realised that the rain had stopped and the sun was now shining down on them. Unable to express her thoughts so complexly Summer settled for,

"I love you so much." Tom smiled at her and then they kissed. It was similar to the kiss that they'd shared when Tom had died, the passion was raging but the love kept a hold on it so that it was heartfelt as well as amazing. When they separated Tom whispered to her,

"Find someone else to love, it won't be too hard." Tom seemed to fade slightly and Summer was desperate to know what exactly he meant.

"Why?"

"You deserve it." Tom was gone and so was the dream. Summer woke up lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. It was as if what had just happened had never happened. But Summer knew it did, she could feel it in her bones. And when she turned onto her side she saw a card. It read:

I love you always. You deserve it.

Tom

(Sad, sad, sad. I'm proud of that long speech that Tom says, best one I've ever written so far I'd have to say. There isn't going to be an epilogue. Sad, sad, sad. The web site of the before the OC story 'Catch Me' is  www . fictionpress . com / read . php ? storyid1790534)


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